February 21, 2005

Swaminarayan temple priest removed from Vadtal sect

INDIA
The Times of India

JUNAGADH: The trustees of the Vadtal sect of Swaminarayan temple dismissed Bhaktiswarup from the sect, who was arrested for featuring in a video sex expose, involving some its priests, Vadtal temple sources said on Monday.

The decision to remove the priest, who is in custody of Crime Branch, was taken at a meeting of all the nine trustees in the presence of its chairman Devnandan Das, who moved the resolution to remove Bhaktiswarup and also got a nod from the Vadtal sect's highest priest Acharya Rakesh Prasad, temple authorities said.

The trustees also decided to remove all luxury items from the rooms/houses of sadhus of the sect, monitor their bank balances and also punish them if anybody was found violating the guidelines that sadus were supposed to follow.

Posted by kshaw at February 21, 2005 06:15 PM