Karmapa aides seek anticipatory bail
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
DHARAMSALA - Two aides of the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Friday moved a Himachal Pradesh court seeking anticipatory bail over the seizure of about Rs.7 crore in foreign and Indian currency from the Gyuto Tantric University and Monastery near here.
Gompo Tsering, secretary of the Karmapa, and Tenzin Namgyal, a trustee of a Karmapa trust, applied for bail in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Thomar in Una town.
After hearing their plea, the court listed the next hearing for Feb 7.
The residence of Tsering, who was recalled from Dehradun after the seizure of the currency, was also raided Jan 29.
“Foreign currency worth Rs.400,000 was recovered from Tsering’s house,” Additional Director General of Police S.R. Mardi told IANS.
Seven people, including the Karmapa’s aide Rubgi Chosang, also known as Shakti Lama, are in police custody.
Meanwhile, a Tibetan couple, Karma Thapa and his wife Rinzin, arrested on charges of arranging Rs.1 crore for the monastery from Delhi, have been sent to police remand by a Una court till Feb 8. The bank accounts of a trust backed by the couple have been frozen.
“The accounts have been frozen as part of the investigation and are being thoroughly screened to know all the money transactions,” Inspector General of Police P.L. Thakur told IANS.
Denying all allegations, the Karmapa’s office said it denies “the baseless fabrications touted by some media claiming that His Holiness the Karmapa is a Chinese spy or agent”.
“Specifically, reports have circulated recently claiming that the Karmapa has acquired land along the Sino-Indian border. We state categorically that His Holiness owns no such property whatsoever nor does the Karmapa’s Office of Administration,” said Karma Topden and Deki Chungyalpa, advisers to the Karmapa.
Noting that the Dalai Lama has expressed confidence in the Karmapa, the statement said the Tibetan government-in-exile had demonstrated its support to the Karmapa, “who is the revered head of a 900-year old order within Tibetan Buddhism”.
It was after the seizure of Rs.1 crore from Mehatpur in Una district that raids on the monastery were conducted by police Jan 28 and the huge amount of foreign and Indian currency was recovered.
The Karmapa fled Tibet and sought refuge in India in January 2000. Ever since, he has mostly lived at the monastery in Sidhbari near Dharamsala.
