Indian government agencies are probing a Chinese connection to 17th Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje. They suspect he could be a Chinese agent working to further Beijing’s grand plan to control monasteries along the Sino-Indian border, from Ladakh to Tawang in Arunachal. Official sources said investigations were on to determine
if he was in touch with the Chinese authorities. They claimed the Tibetan religious leader was regularly getting funds from Chinese sources. Illegal funds were found in a raid at his monasteries on Thursday. A close Karmapa aide, Rabjaychojan (Shakti Lama), was arrested and is being interrogated.
Teams of the Enforcement Directorate and other agencies are in Dharamsala to examine the money trail and could question the Karmapa if necessary. Evidence has emerged that the large amount of foreign currency recovered from the Gyuto Monastery in Dharamsala had come from Chinese sources. It was also found that the Tibetan religious leader regularly got such funds. A sum of `4 lakhs in Indian currency was also seized from the transit home of the Karm-apa. n More on Page 5