Who Owns Bengaluru’s Hare Krishna Temple? Supreme Court Review Delayed Again as Judge Steps Aside and Former Auditor Retracts Affidavit
ISKCON Mumbai’s bid to overturn the May 2025 ruling that gave the Hare Krishna temple in Bengaluru to ISKCON Bangalore must wait for a third bench after a judge recused himself on 5 October. Meanwhile the former auditor whose affidavit Mumbai had relied on is trying to take it back.
NEW DELHI, India — Justice Manoj Misra of the Supreme Court has recused himself, citing personal reasons, from hearing ISKCON Mumbai’s review petitions against the court’s May 2025 judgment on the Bengaluru Hare Krishna temple.[1] With a second member of the bench due to retire in November, the papers have gone back to the Chief Justice of India so that a new bench can be formed, the second reconstitution since the review was referred to a larger bench. The court has not yet heard the review on its merits. ISKCON Mumbai argues that the Bangalore society was only its branch. ISKCON Bangalore, led by Madhu Pandit Dasa, says it is an independent society that has managed the temple for decades.[2]
What the court said on 5 October
A three-judge bench of Justices MM Sundresh, Satish Chandra Sharma and PK Mishra had been hearing the review petitions. It was later reconstituted with Justice Manoj Misra in place of Justice PK Mishra. On 5 October the court said that Justice Misra was recusing himself for personal reasons and that Justice Sharma is due to retire in November, so the bench will have to be reconstituted once again.[1] The order reads:
“The Registry is directed to place the papers of the present matters before Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India for reconstitution of a Bench, as one of us, (Hon’ble Manoj Misra, J.) would like to recuse himself from hearing this matter.”
Supreme Court of India, order of 5 October 2026, as reported by Bar and Bench[1]
At an earlier hearing, ISKCON Mumbai’s counsel argued that several judicial admissions had not been considered in the May 2025 judgment and that ISKCON Mumbai was the parent society, of which ISKCON Bangalore was a subsidiary that could not claim the temple. The bench then said: “We will hear it both on merit and scope of review.”[1]
How the case got here
- 2009–2011: A trial court ruled for ISKCON Bangalore in 2009. In 2011 the Karnataka High Court reversed that decision in favour of ISKCON Mumbai, and ISKCON Bangalore appealed.[2]
- 16 May 2025: Justices Abhay S. Oka and A.G. Masih set aside the High Court ruling. They held that ISKCON Bangalore is a distinct society registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, not a branch of ISKCON Mumbai, and that it owns the temple.[1][3]
- 8 November 2025: Justices J.K. Maheshwari and A.G. Masih split on ISKCON Mumbai’s review petitions. Justice Maheshwari would have heard them in open court; Justice Masih dismissed them. The matter went to the Chief Justice, who formed a three-judge bench.[1][3]
- 28 September 2026: A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, on a request from ISKCON Mumbai’s senior advocate Shyam Divan, said the review and related applications would be listed “a week after October 5”.[2]
- 5 October 2026: Justice Misra recused himself and the matter returned to the Chief Justice for a new bench.[1]
The auditor’s affidavit
A parallel dispute concerns V.L. Varadarajan, ISKCON Bangalore’s former auditor. In an affidavit in January 2026 he stated that Madhu Pandit Dasa, president of ISKCON Bangalore, had misled him. He alleged that 12 years of accounts had been backdated and that minutes had been fabricated for governing-body meetings that never took place. ISKCON Mumbai then took the matter to a court in Kolkata, which directed the police to register an FIR against Varadarajan, Madhu Pandit Dasa and others.
On 6 October Varadarajan filed a new affidavit seeking to retract the January one, saying he had signed it without reading it. The record of the January affidavit carries a notary’s certificate stating that the document was read and explained to him.
Three days earlier, on 3 October, Varadarajan had lodged a police complaint. In it he alleged that Madhu Pandit Dasa offered him ₹1 crore, and later more than ₹50 crore, to make him state that ISKCON Mumbai had offered him ₹5 crore, a claim Varadarajan says was false. The same complaint says he had no contact with ISKCON Mumbai for a year. His 6 October affidavit, however, alleges pressure from the Mumbai side dating back to June 2025, and says he received a loan from people associated with ISKCON Mumbai; that claim has not been substantiated. The new affidavit does not dispute the original audit reports, or the fact that 12 years of accounts were filed together in August 2001.
The two sides
ISKCON Mumbai maintains that before 2001 Madhu Pandit Dasa himself told courts that the Bangalore temple was under the control of ISKCON Bombay. It says that in 1994 he described the Bangalore unit only as a branch, and that in three lawsuits filed between 1999 and 2001 he described himself as president of that branch, with no mention of the society registered in Karnataka in 1978. ISKCON Bangalore disputes this account. After the hearing date was set, ISKCON India’s communications director, Yudhistir Govinda Dasa, called the court’s decision to review the case a “significant milestone”.[4]
ISKCON Bangalore’s position is that the temple land was allotted to it by the Bangalore Development Authority in 1988, and that the temple’s property and funds were raised in Bangalore.[5] After the May 2025 verdict, Madhu Pandit Dasa said:
“They can no longer expel the thousands of devotees who accept only Srila Prabhupada as the sole Acharya of ISKCON.”
Madhu Pandit Dasa, ISKCON Bangalore, 16 May 2025[5]
As of 12 October 2026, ISKCON Bangalore’s website carried no statement on the recusal or on Varadarajan’s affidavits. The claims about the accounts, the affidavits and the alleged offers of money are the parties’ allegations; no court has ruled on them, and the weight to be given to them will be for the Supreme Court to decide.
What happens next
The Chief Justice must now name a new three-judge bench before the review can be heard. Until then, the May 2025 judgment stands, and the Hare Krishna temple in Bengaluru remains with ISKCON Bangalore.[1][6]
Sources
- Ritwik Choudhury, “Supreme Court Justice Manoj Misra recuses from hearing case between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON Bengaluru”, Bar and Bench, 9 October 2026. barandbench.com/news/litigation/supreme-court-justice-manoj-misra-…
- PTI, “ISKCON vs ISKCON: Supreme Court agrees to list review plea for hearing on Bengaluru temple”, ETV Bharat, 28 September 2026. etvbharat.com/en/bharat/iskcon-vs-iskcon-supreme-court-agrees-…
- “बेंगलुरु इस्कॉन मंदिर विवाद: सुप्रीम कोर्ट 5 अक्टूबर के बाद करेगा पुनर्विचार याचिकाओं पर सुनवाई”, Law Trend, 28 September 2026. lawtrend.in/supreme-court-bengaluru-iskcon-temple-dispute-hearing
- “India Court’s Decision to Review the Bengaluru Case Marks a ‘Significant Milestone’”, ISKCON News, 1 October 2026. iskconnews.org/india-courts-decision-to-review-the-bengaluru-case-…
- ISKCON Bangalore, “Supreme Court’s Judgement: ISKCON Bangalore – ISKCON Mumbai dispute”, iskconbangalore.org, 16 May 2025. iskconbangalore.org/supreme-courts-judgement-iskcon-bangalore-…
- “Ritviks’ Temple Win Under Threat: Supreme Court Sets Date for ISKCON’s Review Plea”, Akincana Gocara, 29 September 2026. akincana.net/2026/09/29/ritviks-temple-win-under-threat-…
Read Also:
Discover more from Akincana Gocara
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
