Las Vegas Metro Investigation Reports No Criminal Activity at the Hindu Mandir. Case Closed.
In August of 2018, a crime report was filed with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department by the then Chairman of the Hindu Mandir, Nirmalya Chatterjee. The complaint was about the Mandir Digital Video Recorder was manipulated to audio record without the permission of the trustees or any attendees. Later on, Mr. Chatterjee discovered the DVR cover was loose and the hard drive(s) from the DVR were missing. The Mandir’s video technician later found that the hard drive(s) with any recorded memory was removed from the DVR machine.
At the advice of the then Mandir’s legal counsel, Mr. Chatterjee filed a break-in report with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. However, the Metro Police was never informed of the possible break-in until the potential crime scene was disturbed and the destroyed video machine was removed.
As per the Metro investigative report, the general audio recording in the temple is a civil or temple by-laws related issue and not criminal unless an individual victim comes forward claiming harassment or extortion, etc. due to something overheard or recorded during a private conversation. At that point that individual would have to file a crime report. Currently, no one knows of any such victim.
As per the Metro, with additional interviews conducted, no one as of today has come forward claiming to be a victim of recorded temple conversations against their will or in bad faith. There is no video or direct witnesses to the dismantling of the Mandir’s DVR. The case is closed as all the leads are exhausted.
Some members of the community who have spoken to this publication, strongly believe that there are low-level personal conflicts among the board members and they, the board members, should settle their personal animosity outside the Mandir. At the same time, the general consensus within the community is, it’s time to move on, recruit the new leadership, bring the community together and get ready to celebrate Mandir’s 18thAnniversary this month (April).
The last Board of Trustees meeting was held on Sunday, April 7th2019. The Board has elected Amrit Patel as the new Chairman of the Mandir. The formal communique will be issued by the Board shortly regarding their future course of direction on moving forward to continue with fulfilling the spiritual needs of the growing Hindu community.
Related News
Settlement Reached Between Hindu Mandir Board’s Warring Factions. Donor’s Money Paid Over $150,000 in Legal Expenses on Litigation. Over $50,000 in Outstanding Legal Fees.
At the end of last year, the Mandir Board was increasingly riven by two warringRead More
Meet and Greet with Hon. Jupally Krishna Rao, Minister for Youth Services, Tourism & Culture, Government of Telangana, India
Hyderabad, Telangana based Technology-Hub (T-Hub) is proudly supporting the Government of Telangana and Hyderabad Convention Visitors Bureau (HCVB) in promoting HyderabadRead More
It seems the past chairman Nirmalya Chatterjee acted irresponsibly in filing the report, and damaged our temple’s reputation. He may have done it because of personal vendetta against some of the trustees. Fortunately he is gone now, and it is time to serve the community and not personal ego of some.
Dear Desi Ameri,
If your home is burglarized, you report it to the Police, right?
Soon after I was elected the temple Chairman, we found that conversations in the temple hall were being recorded and we immediately disabled the audio recording. Soon thereafter, we found that the temple recording equipments were vandalized. Our initial internal inquiry did not give us any lead. As you may know, the temple has significant amount of assets and much of the temple expenses are paid for through the donation from the community. The trustees of ‘non-profit’ organizations, like our temple, have the responsibility of safeguarding it’s assets. The temple attorney advised me that I, as a Trustee and as the Temple Chairman, should report the property destruction to the Police. All of the temple trustees were informed of the attorney’s advise well before my filing the report. God forbid, something similar or worse damage can happen that can put the temple and its devotees in greater danger. If I did not report this incident to the Police and simply let this matter go – that would have been an irresponsible act on my part and negligence of my duty as the Chairman. I would not have any explanation for the Las Vegas community as to why I did not report a crime committed against their temple.
My wife, Saroj, and I have been actively and financially supportive of the local community organizations – The Hindu Temple, Friends of India, Ekal Vidyalay, Rajasthani Group, and Bengali Association during the ten years we have been living in Las Vegas. We have never held animosity towards anyone in the community. Saroj had been the President and Vice President of the Hindu Temple for four years. I was the temple Secretary & the Finance Committee Chairperson previously and was unanimously elected the Chairman of the Hindu Temple Board of Trustees last year. I wanted to accomplish major goals for the temple as the Chairman. Unfortunately, the recent environment left us, the five Executive Committee members of the temple, namely, Chairman, President, Vice President, Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, no choice but to resign from the temple. As a senior executive of several Fortune 500 companies and a leader of many non-profit organizations, I have always acted professionally and in the best interest of the organization. Saroj and I wish the best for the temple and the community and remain committed to being supportive of them.
I hope this clears up your mis-understanding. Kindest regards.
No body likes to visit a friend or a relative if they are secretly recording the conversations. It makes one suspicious about their motive. Thats what happened at the temple. Still a mystery why that happened.