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The following article is from INDIAnewEngland.com [2].

The Hindu temple that was caught holding thousands of dollars in donations from a tsunami fundraiser dating back to 2005 recently returned a large portion of the money, said temple officials. But there is still a dispute over how much money remains.

The Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society, which operates the Sri Satyanarayana temple in Middletown, mailed out more than $8,500 in June to individual donors who had thought they were giving to help victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami - but instead ended up donating money that never went to any charity. According to Bala Krishna, chairman of the temple's board of trustees, the donors were also given four percent interest.

The money that was returned, according to Krishna and trustee Lalit Pandey, was only the money donated by check. The temple apparently kept no record of cash contributions to the fundraiser, and there is a dispute among temple members over whether those unaccounted cash donations were in the hundreds - or thousands - of dollars.

Krishna said that an internal memo from 2005 shows that the fundraiser brought in a total of $9,000, leaving just under $400 in cash donations, which, he said, would be sent to a charity such as the Red Cross. The check donations were exactly $8,613.

But Pandey and another temple member, Vinnay Verma, said the total amount was likely much higher, possibly $13,000 or more. The two want the cash contributors to be repaid and are calling for an outside investigation into what happened to the money and why the fundraiser failed to go to its intended source - Asian tsunami victims - years ago.

Meanwhile, Krishna said the mishap was an "honest mistake" and that all governing officials - including him - in power over the past three years are to blame.

INDIA New England broke the news that the money from the fundraiser was never donated to a tsunami charity three years after the fact, in April, after receiving a tip from Verma, a temple member who had sued the temple for discrimination in 2007.

It was when he called the newspaper to say that he had decided to drop his lawsuit that he expressed frustration over the tsunami funds.

While some temple members, including Verma, say former president Prasad Kilaru should take a share of the blame for bungling the fundraiser, Kilaru said he takes no responsibility for what happened.

In a brief phone interview last month, Kilaru said he was temple president for a year, starting in May of 2005, well after the fundraising began in January. He said when he started as president he had no idea that the money was never given to a charity.

Yet Pandey maintains that Kilaru was a co-treasurer during the time of the tsunami effort and that he was well aware of the funds.

Rajani Nagireddy, the temple member who gave the largest check donation for victims of the tsunami through the temple, said she got her $1,200 back right after the INDIA New England story was published. She also received $50 in interest - but said she still has not decided what to do with the money.

"I didn't expect it at all, and now that it's back, I really don't know what to do with it," she said.

Ashok Gupta, of Rocky Hill, Conn., got his $101 donation back - but said he will never give money to the temple again.

"Because if they don't send the money, they should not collect the money," he said. "I was very angry. Somebody should be held responsible."

Krishna said that in retrospect the temple should have never gotten involved in fundraising in the first place and that he hopes it won't in the future.

But Pandey and Verma say they want those responsible to take accountability for what happened.

"I'm totally upset with the lies here," said Pandey. "I see that something wrong has been done, and this is unfortunately the abuse of the power of this executive committee."

He said that Krishna has not been forthright about the failed fundraiser and that the claim that there was only $400 in cash contributions remains is laughable.

"After the refund there is now a balance of $400 in cash contributions? That's why I am laughing," he said. He said he was at the bake sales and collection efforts for the tsunami victims and remembers seeing milk crates and collection boxes filled with cash, leading him to question the accuracy of the $400 balance.

He also points to temple financial statements showing that total general donations to the temple more than doubled in 2005 when compared to 2004. In the latter year the year-end amount was $89,532, but no breakdown shows what portion of the funds was from tsunami collections.

The Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, told INDIA New England in May that his office "will ask the temple for information about what was done with the money."

His office did not return a recent phone call requesting a comment on the matter.

Pandey said he's not holding his breath for any action from the attorney general.

"If larceny happens, you can call 911 and the cops are there," he said. But, "the attorney general's office, they are not interested in it...they have to have [cases worth] millions of dollars [to investigate]."

Reporter Julie Masis contributed to this story by interviewing and reporting on those who gave check donations to the temple.

Source: INDIAnewEngland.com [3]

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