17 Oct 2016

Timeline of the Controversy

1978
Nirmal Singh’s rejoinder to Peter Heehs on the birthplace of Sri Aurobindo. According to Peter Heehs, Sri Aurobindo was wrong about where he was born.

12.02.1984
Appointment of Manoj Das Gupta as Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust after the passing away of Nolini Kanto Gupta. He was recommended as Trustee by Nolini Kanto Gupta through a dubious note signed (or made to sign) in his last days and left in the custody of Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya. We do not know why Nolini did not give the note to Padmanabhan Counouma, who was then the Managing Trustee of the Ashram, and why he did not recommend Manoj Das Gupta earlier through a formal meeting of the Board of Trustees. Manoj Das Gupta’s policy of not rocking the boat even when the boat is about to be wrecked, as in the controversy over the Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs, makes him undoubtedly the most vehemently criticised Trustee in the history of the Ashram. He is also known to protect the guilty and punish the victims or those who have raised the alarm.

22.06.1986
Jugal Kishore Mukherjee’s letter of 22.06.1986 to the Ashram Trust exposing the so-called research of Peter Heehs at the Ashram Archives.

04.06.1987
Jayantilal Parekh’s letter in reply to Jugal Kishore Mukherjee’s letter of 22.06.1986.  The reply is written and drafted by Peter Heehs and Richard Hartz, but signed by Jayantilal Parekh.

14.06.1987
Jugal Kishore Mukherjee’s reply to Jayantilal Parekh’s letter of 22.06.1986.

07.07.1987
Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya’s letter in reply to Jayantilal Parekh’s letter of 04.06.1987 defending Peter Heehs. He raises suspicions with regard to the activities of foreigners at the Ashram Archives.

1987
Peter Heehs wins third prize in writing on the history of the freedom movement in India in a competition conducted by the Govt. of India He hardly mentions, or rather practically dismisses Sri Aurobindo’s contribution to the Freedom Movement despite having researched the same subject for years at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives. Asked why he did so, he answers he would not have got the prize had he highlighted Sri Aurobindo’s role in the freedom movement.

1989
Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography by Peter Heehs published by Oxford University Press. Heehs takes this biography as a testing ground to introduce distortions and misrepresentations of Sri Aurobindo’s life to the disciples and devotees of Sri Aurobindo.

10.02.1991
The passing away of Padmanabhan Counouma, the Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. His unstinting devotion to the Mother combined with legal acumen and a highly respected position in Pondicherry protects the Ashram as long as he is there. The Ashram passes through a storm of difficulties in the aftermath of the Mother’s passing away, which he quietly manages to overcome without any fanfare. After his and Dyuman Patel’s passing away the Ashram begins to have serious administrative problems and court cases against the Ashram multiply tenfold. 

19.08.1992
Passing away of Dyuman Patel, the last of the Trustees selected by the Mother. Harikant Patel becomes Managing Trustee of the Ashram.

1993
Peter Heehs brings out The Bomb in Bengal: The Rise of Revolutionary Terrorism in India, 1900-1910. In this book, according to historian J.B.P. More, Heehs accuses nationalist historians “for being uncritical and unduly commemorative about the revolutionary events related to this period”.

24.10.1996
Formation of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Inmates’ Association to protect the interests of Ashram inmates.

04.01.1997
The Ashram Trust expels four inmates of the Ashram for forming the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Inmates’ Association. The four inmates appeal for the restoration of their basic amenities in the Pondicherry Court.

10.02.1997
Appointment of Dr. Dilip Datta as a Trustee of the Ashram. A senior Ashramite remarked later that, with the appointment of Dr. Dilip Datta as a Trustee, the Ashram lost a good doctor (?) and got a bad legal adviser. It was under him that the number of cases against the Ashram multiplied tenfold (160 in 2008). He naturally mixed his legal strategy with the threat of medical negligence to all those who did not agree with him on Ashram matters.

11.02.1997
Pondicherry Court restores the status of the four expelled members as inmates of the Ashram. The Trust loses the case and has to restore all basic amenities to the inmates, including food, shelter and work.

12.03.1997
Article in Outlook magazine by A.S. Pannerselvan exposing the Ashram Trust’s administration.

26.08.1997
Alleged accident (stove bursting) in the kitchen of the Lake Estate of the Ashram resulting in the death of Ms. Kavita Mallick, who sustains fatal burn injuries. 

23.12.1997
Ms. Meenakshi Mohanty, a young girl from Orissa working in the Ashram Press, commits suicide.

1998
Peter Heehs submits his article “Genius, Mysticism, and Madness” as part of the research report of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust to the Govt. of India for seeking income tax exemptions under scientific research.. The article shows similarities between Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual experiences and psychotic experiences and hallucinations of  mentally disbalanced persons.

1998
Peter Heehs’s book Nationalism, Terrorism, Communalism: Essays in Modern Indian History published by Oxford University Press. Following the line of leftist historians, he calls Sri Aurobindo a leader of terrorists.
 
1999
Cases filed against the Ashram Trust for the tampering of Savitri, Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem. The chief editors of the new edition of Savitri (1993) are Richard Hartz and Peter Heehs.

01.07.2002
Appointment of Prabhakar Pantulu (Batti) as Trustee of the Ashram.

03.11.2002
Dakshinamourty, a Tamil devotee, files a Public Interest Litigation against the Ashram Trust in Madras High Court.

25.02.2004
Ms. Shobha Rani, an inmate at the Ashram, commits suicide because of alleged sexual harassment and eve teasing in the Ashram Dining Room. In her suicide note, she holds eight inmates responsible for the extreme step she has taken. Nirmal Swain, the present Ashram lawyer and a close aide of the Trustees, figures in this list of persons who are responsible for her death. The case gets dismissed because of lack of witnesses from her side.

05.10.2004
The Chairperson of the National Commission For Women, Dr. Poornima Advani and other officials of the NCW conduct a meeting with the officials of the State Women's Commission, Pondicherry, to discuss issues regarding eve teasing, safety of women and problems faced by women while registering complaints with the Police. The minutes of the said meeting are highlighted in a report titled "A Situational Analysis of Women and Girls in Pondicherry" by Dr. Sarala Gopalan of the NCW.

11.10.2004
Bail Order of Manoj Das Gupta in the Selvaraj Chettiar case pertaining to the fraudulent sale of three properties in Pondicherry to the Ashram Trust.

 Sept 2007
A few teachers of the Ashram School complain about the sexual exploitation of minor girls by a physical education instructor. No action is taken on him. On the contrary, severe action is taken on those who have complained.

15.03.2008
CNN-IBN widely advertises their program titled "The Divine Trap" on the Ashram and announces its broadcast for prime time at 9 pm on 15th March 2008. The program was supposed to reveal the corrupt functioning of the Ashram Trustees. On the day of the broadcast, the Trust intervenes and manages to block the programme.

May 2008
Peter Heehs’s Lives of Sri Aurobindo published by Columbia Press in the USA.

21.06.2008
As on this date a total of 160 cases had been filed against the Ashram Trust across various courts, largely on account of the actions/omissions of the Trustees.

August 2008
The controversy of the Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs is triggered by a review of it in Auroville Today

Sept 2008  onwards
Letters to the Ashram Trust from senior disciples and scholars of Sri Aurobindo Ashram warning the Trust of Peter Heehs’s mischief in the Ashram Archives. All are ignored by Manoj Das Gupta, the Managing Trustee.

13.09.2008
Objectionable Extracts of the Lives arranged by subject and circulated by email, creating a storm and outrage among the disciples and admirers of Sri Aurobindo.

Sept 2008
Meeting in the School presided by Manoj Das Gupta in which senior inmates of the Ashram are called. MDG defends Peter Heehs saying that his intentions were good though the result was bad. He reads from a letter written by Peter Heehs to him. Vijay Poddar and Matriprasad Satyamurthy are appointed to look into the possibility of legal action to stop the book from getting released in India by Penguin Publishers. Vijay Poddar rings up his lawyers in Delhi and asks Matriprasad for the contract of the Ashram Trust with Peter Heehs. Matriprasad keeps delaying the matter until Vijay Poddar realises that the delay is deliberate and the Trust does not want to take any action at all.

20.09.2008
Letter of long time colleagues of Peter Heehs in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives to the Managing Trustee with regard to the blatant misuse of Archives material by Peter Heehs.

27.09.2008
Peter Heehs’s corrected excerpts of the Lives of Sri Aurobindo put up on the SCIY forum.

Sept-Oct 2008
Manoj Das (the writer) has a meeting with the Trustees (which Manoj Das Gupta does not attend) in order to read out and explain 90 objectionable passages in the Lives. He tells them why it is necessary to urgently and publicly dissociate the Ashram from the book and take immediate steps to withdraw the book. The four Trustees agree and decide to remove Peter Heehs, Bob Zwicker & Richard Hartz from the Archives. Next morning when Manoj Das Gupta hears about the decision, he shouts in anger, “I will not accept this decision!” He then prevails upon the other Trustees to withdraw their unanimous decision. News of this comes as a most painful shock to the entire Ashram community, plunging it in despair.

02.10.2008
Mass petition signed first by Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya submitted by inmates of the Ashram to the Trustees. More than four hundred people signed the petition. Had not Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya  called it off after two days, the entire Ashram would have followed suit. 

05.10.2008
Manoj Das Gupta writes to Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya that Peter has “crossed all limits of decency” in his book on Sri Aurobindo.

08.10.2008
Internal Notice circulated by the Ashram Trust saying that the Ashram Trust “does not approve and has nothing to do with the book entitled “Lives of Sri Aurobindo”. The Trust removes Peter Heehs from the Archives and reconstitutes an ad hoc and namesake editorial board of the Archives Dept.

10.10.2008
Proposal of Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya to take corrective measures with regard to the book. This was put up on the Ashram Notice Board. PKB was the personal attendant of the Divine Mother and head of the Ashram Physical Education Dept. He joined the Ashram in 1945 and commanded immense respect from the devotees and disciples of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

30.10.2008
Notice by Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya expelling Peter Heehs from the Physical Education Dept. of the Ashram.

04.11.2008
Ex-students of the Ashram School move the Orissa High Court and bring a Stay Order on the release of the Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs by Penguin Publishers in India.

11.11.2008
Fax message of the Ashram Trustees saying that they have informed Peter Heehs about their displeasure regarding some aspects of the book and have taken the necessary disciplinary steps. They clarify that he was not founder of the Ashram Archives as claimed by him in his book.

Nov 2008
Article written by Niranjan Naik on “Guru Ninda” for the November issue of the Oriya monthly Navaprakash. 9700 copies of the article are printed. On realising that it would expose the Ashram Trust for supporting Peter Heehs, the manager of the Press scraps and shreds all the copies.

22.01.2009
Sraddhalu Ranade dismissed from the Archives by the Ashram Trust for having taken a stand against Peter Heehs.

09.04.2009
Govt. of Orissa issues a Gazette Notification banning the book.

25.07.2009
Pranab Bhattacharya’s proposal to the Managing Trustee to take action on Peter Heehs with regard to copyright violations.

05.08.2009
Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya’s Note to the Managing Trustee with Legal Opinion on how to take action on Peter Heehs. This letter follows from the previous letter of PKB to MDG dated 25.07.2009

31.08.2009
Manoj Das Gupta’s reply to Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya. He says, “If you feel that some legal action is the need of the hour, then I am game for it.” And yet he does nothing.

08.01.2010
Passing away of Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, attendant of the Mother and director of the Physical Education Department of the Ashram.

May-July 2010
Kittu Reddy (professor of History in the Ashram School), Ranganath Raghavan (former Manager of the Ashram Press) & Sumita Khandpal (retired IAS officer and alumnus of SAICE) meet Manoj Das Gupta with regard to the Peter Heehs issue and the administration of the Ashram. They have a couple of meetings with Manoj Das Gupta, which are followed by a correspondence with the Ashram Trust.

02.05.2010
Molestation of Mamata Satpathy by Mukesh, manager of New Guest House. The Trust protects Mukesh and pretends to conduct an enquiry.

28.05.2010
Letter written to the Managing Trustee by Kitttu Reddy, Ranganath Raghavan & Sumita Kandpal asking him why no action has been taken on Peter Heehs and why no public statement has been issued by the Trust on the derogatory content of his book on Sri Aurobindo.

21.06.2010
Recommendation letter furnished by the Trust to the Regional Registration Officer, Pondicherry, for the extension of Peter Heehs’s visa by five years.

21.06.2010
Reply of the Ashram Trust to Kittu Reddy, Ranganath Raghavan & Sumita Kandpal. The Trust defends Peter Heehs and presents half a dozen articles profusely praising him.


02.07.2010
Letter of Kittu Reddy, Ranganath Raghavan & Sumita Kandpal to Manoj Das Gupta raising the issue of Peter Heehs and various other cases of blatant maladministration such as the Raghava Chettiar House case, New Guest House diversion of funds, Mamata Satpathy molestation case, etc.

22.07.2010
Reply from the Board of Trustees dismissing all the questions raised by Kittu Reddy, Ranganath Raghavan & Sumita Kandpal and threatening to take legal action on them.

July 2010
Manoj Das Gupta’s article “Some Reflections on the Agonising Issue of a Book”. He criticises Peter Heehs, but criticises more the reaction of those who have protested against it. He refers to this article as having written it a few months back in a letter to the Governor of Pondicherry dated 24 September 2010.

23.08.2010
Scheme Suit against the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust filed by five inmates and devotees in the Pondicherry District Court. The petitioners seek the replacement of the Trustees because they have committed breach of trust by defending Peter Heehs with regard to his denigrating biography of Sri Aurobindo and by even giving a certificate of good conduct for the extension of his visa in India.  

23.09.2010
With great reluctance, the Ashram Trust puts up a notice in the Ashram saying that it “does not approve and has nothing to do with the book entitled the Lives of Sri Aurobindo written by Peter Heehs.” It keeps the notice for only a few days on the Ashram Notice Board.
 
05.10.2010
Dr. R.Y. Deshpande, senior professor of Physics in the Higher Course of the Ashram School and expert on Savitri, expelled by Manoj Das Gupta on a flimsy excuse.

30.12.2010
Dismissal of Niranjan Naik as editor of Navaprakash, which he has been editing right from its inception in 1970.

15.02.2011
Principal District Judge of Pondicherry grants leave to sue in the Scheme Suit.

17.06.2011
Madras High Court grants leave to sue in the Scheme Suit.

01-07 January, 2012
Silent Protest against the Ashram Trust organised by the inmates of the Ashram and other devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Rue Saint Gilles, behind the Ashram main building and in front of the office of the Ashram Trust. A Press conference is organised on 6 January, 2012.

20.01.2012
Ashram Trust issues show cause notices to Kittu Reddy & R.Y. Deshpande for speaking in the Press conference of January 6, 2012.

27.01.2012
Show Cause notices served to Varun Pabrai and 5 others for participating in the Silent Protest of 1-6 January, 2012. (Read also note dated 19.04.2012.)

13.02.2012
Ashram Trustees cancel Vijay Poddar’s talk on the book for fear of being exposed. The talk was scheduled for 14.02.2012 at the Society Beach Office.

26-28 February, 2012
Second Silent Protest organised by the inmates of the Ashram and devotees of Sri Aurobindo on Rue Saint Gilles, behind the Ashram main building and in front of the office of the Ashram Trust.  On the 27th devotees hand over petitions to all the Trustees. Dr. Dilip Datta first refuses to take the petition, and then takes it, crumples and throws it in the drain.  He files an F.I.R. on the devotees for preventing his access to the office of the Ashram Trust. The devotees file a counter F.I.R. against Shoma Datta (Dilip Datta’s daughter) who racially insults the Oriya devotees.

09.03.2012
Togo Mukherjee deprived of taking food in the Ashram Dining Room by Manoj Das Gupta.

11.03.2012
Dr. Gayatri Satapathy, resident physician in the Ashram Nursing Home from November 1999, resigns due to interference and harassment by Dr. Dilip Datta. She continues to work in the Ashram Dispensary.

14.03.2012
Manoj Das Gupta stops Sudha Sinha’s Hindi classes.

04.04.2012

05.04.2012
Peter Heehs’s interview with General Bakshi on Times Now.

13.04.2012
Home Minister Chidambaram under political pressure extends Peter Heehs’s visa by one year. He was supposed to leave India on 14.04.2012 at 2 a.m. 

19.04.2012
Interim Injunction by the Puducherry Court restraining the Ashram Trustees from taking disciplinary action against Kittu Reddy and five others. The Trustees now won’t be able to expel them, deprive them of food & shelter or remove them from their work place.

25.04.2012
Sri Aurobindo Society passes a resolution publicly condemning "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs. This is in response to the overwhelming expression of outrage from hundreds of Branches and Centres all over India. The statement is published in the issue of June 2012 of the All India Magazine.

11.05.2012

13.05.2012
Radhikaranjan writes an article with the title “Om Namo Bhagavate” for the TLOSA website, in which he criticises the Trustees for supporting Peter Heehs.Manoj Das Gupta, Registrar of the Ashram School, stops his Sanskrit and Biology classes. Radhikaranjan moves the Court in Pondicherry to get back his classes and even wins in the Court, but to no avail. The Registrar takes advantage of legal procedures to indefinitely delay the restoration of his classes. (Read note dated 05.12.2012)

18.05.2012
A strong plea was made by Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD MP) in the Lok Sabha today for immediately cancelling the visa to controversial US historian Peter Heehs. 

 25.05.2012
A group of 68 sitting Members of Parliament of India write to the Ashram Trust demanding written answers to serious allegations of corruption and breach of trust raised by disciples and devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother all over India and abroad. The letter is forwarded by Ex-MP Dr. Kartikeshwar Patra to the Ashram Trust on 25 May, 2012.

10.06.2012
Second Additional District Judge of Pondicherry grants leave to sue for a second time in the Scheme Suit.

21.07.2012
Kumud Patel, personal assistant of the Mother and in-charge of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s rooms passes away. Her loss is deeply felt by all those who have protested against the Trustees in the Peter Heehs issue.

10.08.2012
The SSP of Puducherry refuses to give permission to the Inmates to stage a dharna on the apprehension that there might be a breach of peace. 

13.08.2012
The District Collector of Puducherry receives a letter from local MLA Thiru Ashok Anand citing various allegations against the Trustees of the Ashram ranging from the denial of basic fundamental rights of the Inmates to financial corruption and breach of trust. The MLA prays for an immediate and independent probe into the functioning of the Trust. On the same day a large group of Devotees, Disciples and Inmates meet the District Collector with the objective of voicing their grievances against the Trustees.

05.09.2012
The Deputy Collector (Revenue) North, Puducherry summons the Trustees to appear before him on 07.09.2012 at 04:00 pm for an enquiry along with relevant documents. The scope of the proposed enquiry is on the following issues:
1. Denial of fundamental rights of the inmates of Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
2. Absence of a democratic mechanism for the election of Trustees.
3. Lack of transparency and accountability by the Trustees.
4. Financial mismanagement of Trust Funds by the Trustees
5. Denial of food, work and medical facilities to inmates who have spoken against the Trustees.
6. Denial of security to women inmates who have spoken out against sexual harassment and victimization.
7. Illegal sale and lease of valuable Ashram properties by Trustees for personal gain.
8. Other related matters.

07.09.2012
Death of Shanti Sinha due to gross medical negligence by the Ashram Medical Service headed by Dr. Dilip Datta.

07.09.2012
Ashram Trustees comply with the summons of the Deputy Collector and appear before him.

17.09.2012
Pondicherry District Collector puts up a public Notice of Enquiry into the allegations against the Ashram Trust. Interested Ashramites can disclose any information on the allegations levied against the Trustees.

19.09.2012
The Trustees of the Ashram submit a written reply to the Deputy Collector denying the allegations levelled against them in the Notice dated 05.09.2012.

20.09.2012
The Trustees of the Ashram Trust send a letter to the Deputy Collector wherein they express their reservations on affixing the Notice dated 17.09.2012. The Trustees however vide the said letter assure the Deputy Collector of their "full co-operation to the enquiry".

21.09.2012
Ashramites submit a detailed report to the Deputy Collector of Pondicherry, containing information on the illegalities committed by the Ashram Trust. The report is more than 1800 pages long with 10 Annexures, including two books and one DVD Disk containing a sting operation undertaken by the CNN-IBN into the affairs of the Ashram Trust.

01.10.2012
The Deputy Collector sends a letter to the Trustees stating that the Notice dated 17.09.2012 has not been affixed on the notice board of the Ashram as per his directions. Therefore a revised constructive Notice with an extended date would be affixed at important places of the Ashram. The Trustees are directed to extend necessary co-operation to the Deputy Tahsildar during his visit to the Ashram for this purpose. The Trustees are also warned that non-compliance of these directions would be viewed seriously.

01.10.2012
Notice dated 01.10.2012 extends the date for all interested Ashramites to approach the Deputy Collector with information relevant to the inquiry by 15.10.2012. 

03-10 Oct 2012
Inmates of the Ashram make written complaints to the Deputy Collector against the Trustees of the Ashram on issues pertaining to sexual abuse of women inmates and children, human rights violation, denial of medical facilities, and corruption and financial mismanagement in the Ashram. 40 complaints are given to the Deputy Collector, out of which 9 complaints are returned because of the stay order in Madras High Court.

05.10.2012
The Ashram Trust files Writ Petition 27099 of 2012 against the District Collector of Puducherry in the Madras High Court and gets a stay order on the Enquiry. 

13.10.2012
Vishnu Lalit’s Sanskrit classes discontinued by Manoj Das Gupta because he has been the main complainant in the Collector’s Enquiry.

18.10.2012
Laxmidhar Samantray passes away.

09.11.2012
Ms. Krishna Tirath, the Minister of State, Ministry of Women and Child Development, issues a letter to the Chief Minister, Government of Pondicherry, saying that "efforts need to be made to ensure that the Trustees do not abuse their positions in any way to create an atmosphere of fear amongst the Inmates which would obviate a fair inquiry, which I would request you to expedite". 
Letter of Ms Krishna Tirath

04.12.2012
The Government of Puducherry files a Counter Affidavit in W.P. No. 27099 of 2012 justifying the need for conducting an enquiry into the affairs of the Ashram. 

05.12.2012
Court verdict in favour of Radhikaranjan Das restraining the Ashram Trustees from stopping his classes in the Ashram School. Manoj Das Gupta, Managing Trustee cum Registrar of the Ashram School blatantly disobeys the court order, but creates a false impression of having complied with it. Radhikaranjan is given a note telling him to fix his classes with the Higher Course students while he prevents them at the same time to attend his classes.

14.12.2012
Togo Mukherjee, grandson of Bagha Jotin, passes away.

25.01.2013
Inmates of the Ashram file intervention petition M.P. No.2/2012 during the pendency of Writ Petition 27099/2012 in Madras High Court.

15.03.2013
TLOSA website exposes the Dattagate scandal regarding the land deal of Dilip Datta’s son with Michele Mercier, who gets prime accommodation from the Ashram for selling her house to Dilip Datta’s son at a throw away price.

02.04.2013
Madras High Court grants leave to sue for the second time in the Scheme Suit.

May 2013
Abhipsa Nagda appointed as Trustee in the place of Albert Patel.

06.06.2013
Trustees send Ashram lawyer with Police to arrest Abala Mohanty in the Dining Room for allegedly insulting Manoj Das Gupta. Abala refuses to go with them. The same thing happens on the 8th.

13.07.2013
Posters against the Ashram Trust all over Pondicherry town.

14.07.2013
Bring the Sri Aurobindo Ashram under the purview of the R.T.I. Act, says ANRC MLA.

18.07.2013
Posters against the Ashram Trust all over Pondicherry town.

26.07.2013
Puducherry Assembly extensively debates on the corrupt practices of the Ashram Trustees. Thereafter, the Chief Minister of Puducherry issues a statement that he is seriously considering the appointment of a Government Administrator for the Ashram. Various news reports are published highlighting the proceedings of the Puducherry Assembly.

10.08.2013
Tehelka magazine publishes an Article titled "Scabs Beneath the Serenity", which vividly describes the dismal state of affairs in Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

13.08.2013
The Madras High Court appoints Justice P.R. Raman, a former Judge of the High Court of Kerala, to head an inquiry into the affairs of the Ashram.

26.08.2013
Posters against Manoj Das Gupta all over the town.

15.09.2013
Shanti Mishra, impleader in the Writ Petition filed in the Madras High Court (Enquiry Case against the Ashram Trust), complains of intimidation by a henchman of the Trustees, who tells her to withdraw her name from it.

17.09.2013
RAJ TV Programme in Tamil titled “KOPPIUM” on sex-scandals in the Ashram.

27.09.2013
Enquiry proceedings conducted by Justice P.R. Raman at Ananda Inn, Pondicherry. Several Inmates and non-Inmates participate in the proceedings.

29.09.2013
Justice P.R. Raman submits a memo saying that he cannot continue as Enquiry Officer due to medical reasons. Also, subsequent to his appointment as Enquiry Officer, he has been designated as a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court of India and in this regard was "expecting to move out soon".

11.10.2013
Madras High Court appoints Justice T.L. Vishwanatha Iyer, former Judge, High Court of Kerala, as Enquiry Officer in place of Mr. Justice P.R. Raman.

23.10.2013
Enquirer Officer, T.L. Vishwanatha Iyer, conducts a meeting with the inmates and authorities of the Ashram in the conference hall of the Pondicherry Secretariat.

26.10.2013

19.11.2013
79 complaints of Inmates personally delivered to Justice Vishwanatha Iyer. Copies of complaints posted to Trustees and other accused. 

11.12.2013
Ashram Trust replies to the complaints against them.

12.01.2014
Justice Vishwanath Iyer suddenly passes away. Enquiry proceedings come to a halt and the atmosphere in the Ashram further deteriorates.

20.02.2014
Dr. Gayatri resigns from the Ashram Dispensary due to severe harassment by Dr. Dilip Datta.

March-April 2014
Deliberate medical negligence of Vishnu Lalit in the Ashram Nursing Home because he was the main complainant in the Collector’s Enquiry.

04.08.2014
Writ Petition filed by Gayatri Satapathy & Others asking for an Enquiry into various allegations against the Ashram Trust is admitted in the Supreme Court of India. The Union Govt. of India and the Pondicherry Govt. have been made parties in the case. Both file affidavits favouring the Enquiry.

16.09.2014
RSS journal ORGANISER indicts the Ashram Trustees for being in league with Peter Heehs in the defamation of Sri Aurobindo.

28.10.2014
Manoj Das in the news in connection with the Seashore Chitfund Scam in Orissa.

18.12.2014
Five sisters & parents attempt to commit suicide after being evicted from their Ashram residence. Two sisters and mother die, the others found in a traumatic condition. Violent protests against the Ashram Trust. A total bandh observed on the 20th supported by all political parties.

13.08.2015

25.08.2015

05.01.2016
Supreme Court dismisses the Scheme Suit, overturning the High Court and Pondicherry court orders.

2016
Enquiry Case still pending in the Supreme Court of India.

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