Dispute continues over sale of Osho land

Several Osho disciples are opposing the sale of the prime land located in Pune

Mumbai: Dispute continues over the sale of the property belonging to Osho International Foundation. The estimated cost of the property, located in the heart of Pune city, runs in several crores.

Eleven more interventions from Osho disciples have been filed into the ongoing case of the dispute over sale of the land of Osho International Foundation. And, the next hearing had been postponed to April 23. The Charity Commissioner had given time until 5 pm on March 26 to file any further intervention applications. The outcome of the hearing at the Charity Commissioner's on March 26 was that - 11 more interventions from Osho disciples were filed.

"The message was conveyed by our lawyer to us. The application numbers for the newly-filed interventions have not been updated yet. It will be reflected in the Roznama. So most likely it will get updated on or after the next hearing date i.e., 23rd of April," one of the interventionists told Bizz Buzz requesting anonymity.

Osho is said to have spent longest time of his life at this Ashram in Pune. He left a small management group aka inner circle of 21 long time disciples to take care of the mundane affairs of his work. The circle was never mandated to interpret his teachings. Mundane affairs included the maintenance of the Pune ashram. And they also included making his books, audios, videos, and meditations available to everyone without any hindrances.

They had no spiritual mandate. Within a few years of Osho's leaving the body in 1990, the inner circle members who did not support Michael O Byrne (Canadian) and the UK born former doctor of Osho, Dr Andrews, were ousted or resigned. The new so-called 21, appointed by O'Byrne acted through various trusts and dummy trusts, out of an office in Zurich to control Osho's legacy worldwide. This was in direct contradiction to the wishes and teachings of Osho.

Currently, the Indian Trustees led by Mukesh Sarda under the control of O'Byrne are engaged in the sale of part of the Ashram land to an auto industrial group – Bajaj Industries. They have applied to The Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra on the grounds that the coronavirus has caused them financial loss. An objection to the sale has been lodged by Swami Prem Geet and Swami Anadi in the Charity Commissioner's office in Mumbai.