Karmapa raid may lead ED to other monasteries

NEW DELHI: The security establishment has credible information about a few Buddhist monasteries receiving significant funding from Chinese individuals, officials said as they probed the recovery of money from Karmapa Lama’s premises and associates.
The information emerged as Enforcement Directorate officials reached the Gyuto Tantric University and Monastery near Dharamshala to investigate the money recovered, estimated at over Rs 7 crore.While most of the Indian currency is believed to be fake, other currencies are original, officials said.
The investigators are looking at the source of money, what it was meant for and the people involved in accumulating so much cash.
Investigators said they were also worried about the sizeable amount of fake Indian currency recovered from the Karmapa’s premises. Fear is that some of his associates could be linked to the thriving fake Indian currency racket with its base in Nepal.
Sources in the security establishment said the Karmapa’s case may not be isolated.
“We know of four-five major monasteries in the northeast and Ladakh where we have seen significant money coming from Chinese individuals,” a senior official said. Among the monasteries receiving Chinese funding are those in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. “The funding comes from Chinese individuals and not any state agencies,” the official said.
Another official said they also had evidence of unaccounted money flowing in a big way into various high profile monasteries from American and European sources.
In the recent past, there has been at least one interdepartmental investigation into the activities of Karmapa’s supporters which too threw up evidence of huge money flowing from suspicious sources.
Given the sensitivities involved in the subject, the government has been only watching the situation and not really taking any firm action, the senior official said. “From a pure security perspective, we are, and should be, concerned about the money flow,” he said.