The accused had seized about 1 hectare of reserved forest land, police said. (Representative)
Rishikesh:
The Uttarakhand Forestry Department has filed a complaint against Swami Chidananda Saraswati for allegedly seizing a piece of reserve forest in the Virpur Khurd area of Rishikesh and running a yoga and meditation center, as well as a boarding school.
The case was brought against the spiritual guru under section 26 of the Indian Forest Act of 1927, pursuant to a recent order of the Uttarakhand High Court, the PTI news agency told the responsible for forest areas Mahendra Singh Rawat.
“Swami Chidananda had taken over about one hectare of reserved forest land in the Virpur Khurd area of the city and was running the Muni Chidananda Yoga Center, a meditation center and a boarding school,” Rawat said.
However, the forestry department took over the land from the spiritual guru on February 10 this year, he added.
