Karmapa’s bank accounts frozen
Investigators probing the unaccounted currency seizures from the Karmapa Lama’s monastery in Sidhbari (Himachal Pradesh), on Friday, ordered a freeze on all bank accounts associated with the Karmae Garchen Trust, headed by the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Though officials described the action as a routine part of the ongoing investigations, sources said specific accounts including those of the trustees were frozen after investigators detected big, unexplained transactions. For instance, just one account at a Kangra branch of a nationalised bank showed recent transactions adding up to more than `6 crores.
The Himachal Pradesh government’s decision to freeze the accounts follows sustained interrogations of the Karpama Ogyen Trinley Dorje and his close aides in the wake of police raids wherein nearly `8 crores in 25 separate international currencies was recovered from Sidhbari’s Gyuto Tantrik Temple.
The seizures significantly included more than Rs 11 lakhs in neatly packaged bundles of crisp Chinese Yuan banknotes.
Even as the police and revenue intelligence officers track the “dubious” Tibetan money trail around benami real estate deals in Himachal Pradesh and elsewhere, two senior trustees of the Karmapa’s Trust — Gompu Tsering and Tenzin Namgyal — sought anticipatory bail.
Seven people — three Tibetans and four Indians — have so far been arrested in connection with the cash recoveries. While Ashutosh and Sanjay Dutt were nabbed in possession of Rs. One Crore of the Karmapa’s money at Una in January, Rubgi Chosang aka Shakti Lama was arrested during the raids on the monastery a day later.
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