Iskcon has accused a former employee of pocketing Rs 1.8 lakh donated to it. The wife of the accused, on the other hand, charged the temple president of the organisation’s city wing of “pushing” her.

Both sides have lodged police complaints. No one has yet been arrested.

Police sources said Biswajit Mondal, alias Brindavan Palak, who the Iskcon authorities have accused of siphoning off funds, headed the donation section of Iskcon Calcutta.

His wife has accused temple president Jayram Das of “pushing” her when she went to the organisation’s Albert Road office on Sunday to challenge the “false” charges against her husband.

Radharaman Das, an Iskcon spokesperson, said Mondal had quit in April because of personal reasons but he took along with him a chunk of the donation.

“When we approached devotees for donation, many of them said they had handed over their contribution to Mondal. He didn’t take our calls, so we texted him, asking him to return the money. When he did not, we filed the complaint on Saturday,” said Das.

The Iskcon said they later came to know that Mondal had come to their Gurusaday Road office late on Saturday and left a cheque and Rs 20,000 in cash with a cook. According to Das, Mondal still owed the organisation around Rs 1.8 lakh. “We are probing the complaints,” said an officer of Shakespeare Sarani police station.