Himachal clean chit for Karmapa; arrest ruled out

However,the Una cops on Friday evening invoked Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act in the case,which will make some of Karmapa’s close aides responsible for irregularities in handling foreign currency at the monastery.

The Central agencies,including Intelligence Bureau,Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Enforcement Directorate (ED),which have also carried out separate investigations into the Rs 7.05 crore Foreign Currency seizure,are understood to have given their reports to the Union Home ministry ‘absolving’ the Karmapa of the charges. The focus of investigations now,say sources,will be on the role of his close aides.

Today,for the first time,Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu went on record to clarify Himachal Pradesh government’s stand on the issue and gave the Karmapa a clean chit,both in the foreign currency seizure and benami land deals,at Dharamsala.

“Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje is a religious head having large following within and outside the country. He is free to practise religion and so are Tibetans. Till now,we haven’t found his involvement in the foreign currency stash,and other financial and other dealings,” Sandhu said here.

To a specific query of mediapersons,whether the government has found the allegations against Karmapa true,Sandhu said,“so far,there is no evidence to link the 17th Karmapa directly with financial dealings. However,his men responsible for manning the affairs of his office administration at the monastery have indulged in violations. Now,law is equal to all,whether a foreigner,Tibetan or anyone else. Investigations will go on in the FIR and law will take its own course against those erring people”,said Sandhu.

She also denied a move to seek deportation of the Karmapa from Himachal Pradesh. “We are not asking for it as we (Himachal) have no problem,so far as his religious activities are concerned”.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has also given the Karmapa a clean chit asserting that some of Karmapa’s men are responsible for the lapses in dealing with the “offerings and donations” at the Gyuto monastery.

Earlier,during his interrogation by the police and Enforcement Directorate (ED) teams,the Karmapa had named three persons,who he claimed were handling financial matters and collecting donations received at the monastery. One of the named persons happens to be Shakti Lama and he is already in judicial custody after his arrest. Sandhu endorsed the Karmapa’s stand that his job at the monastery,where he lives temporarily since his arrival at Dharamsala,was purely spiritual and has nothing to do with financial matters,or land deals. “We trust him fully,and will not play with the religious sentiments of his followers,” she clarified.

In their 15-day long investigations,the Una police are understood to have found sufficient evidence about inflow of foreign currency to Gyuto Monastery from Majnu-ka-Tila in Delhi. But,there is no evidence of the Karmapa’s direct involvement although Dharamsala-based businessman KP Bhardwaj,a Tibetan couple having foreign currency business,Bank Manager DK Dhar and Shakti Lama are now accused in the FIR.