Bhubaneswar: As announced earlier, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) demolished the controversial Baikuntha Dham Ashram in Khandagiri area on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on Friday. A bulldozer engaged by the BDA razed the building of the ashram to the ground in the presence of officials and local police.
The Baikuntha Dham Ashram was built illegally on government land and the BDA had on Thursday directed the occupants to vacate the building.
The action comes in the wake of a directive of Odisha High Court earlier in January lifting the interim stay on the demolition of the ashram building as the ashram authorities had failed to submit requisite documents permitting the construction of the ashram.
Baikuntha Dham Ashram came up on plot numbers 9037 and 9038 in Ghatikia spreading over 0.140 acre. Of late, the ashram was in the news for wrong reasons. The Odisha Samajsebi Mahasangha had lodged a complaint with the police alleging that one Kashinath Mishra claimed his son was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It was alleged that Mishra placed tulsi leaves and Bhagavad Gita at the feet of his son and worshipped him at the ashram.
