Calcutta, Aug 3: Sureshwara Dasa, a monk of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Calcutta, who was arrested on charges of allegedly raping a widow on June 29 and lodged in the Presidency Jail, committed suicide early this morning. In a suicide note left behind by the monk, the deceased charged that he has been falsely implicated in the case and as such he is taking his life, according to police sources.The death once again brings into sharp focus the murky world and internecine squabbles within this religious organisation which had been hit by charges of sexual exploitation and harrassment of young devotees. Sureshwara belonged to the Albert Road headquarters of the ISKCON which had been at loggerheads with the ISKCON establishment at Mayapur in Nadia district of Bengal, about 150 km from Calcutta.Dilip Chowdhury, additional IG, Prisons, said that Sureshwar Dasa hanged himself with the help of the robes he was wearing. The monk was said to have got up in the wee hours today, performed puja and chanted kirtans within the cell before hanging himself from the iron-grills.When warders noticed him he was immediately taken to hospital and declared dead. A majesterial inquiry was being held and the body has been sent for post-mortem. The jail authorities would also videotape the post-mortem examination process as directed by the Human Rights' Commission in case of all custodial deaths, Chowdhury said.According to the case no 74/ 2000 of Ballygunge police station, Basanti Debi, the widow of late Goloknath Dasa, yet another monk of the ISKCON, had come to Albert Road headquarters of the organisation on June 29 to collect the monthly pension of Rs 2000. She was sent to an ISKCON office on Gurusaday Dutta Road to collect the money. According to her complaint, she was raped by Sureshwar Dasa when she went there to collect the pension.Sureshwar was arrested on the basis of the complaint and remanded to jail custody till July 12 and subsequently to July 25 and then till August 7 by the Alipore sub-divisional court.The deputy commissioner (South), R K Panchnanda, when asked about the veracity of the complaint, said today that the matter was still under investigation and that the medical examination report of the rape-victim was yet to reach the police.Meanwhile, Sattvik Dasa, the Vice President of ISKCON, Albert Road in a written statement stated that at about 9.30 am today a jailor from Presidency jail came to ISKCON house at 22 Gurusaday Dutta Road and ``informed the death of one of our devotees much to our shock and surprise''.Sattvik Dasa further stated, ``We suspect foul play relating to his death in jail. We are left with no other alternative than to register complaint with the police authorities and also with the Human Rights' Commission, West Bengal.''
