HimVani
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh High Court today granted bail to Karmapa’s aide Rubgi Chosang, also known as Shakti Lama along with two other Tibetans. However, the court has directed them to appear in the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Chandigarh for investigation.
Hearing their bail application, Justice D.D. Sud directed Shakti Lama and the couple .i.e. Karma Thapa and his wife Rinzin to join the investigation and appear in the office of the ED on March 21. Earlier, on March 5, 2011 the High Court had also granted bail to businessman Kul Rakesh Bhardwaj and bank manager Devendra Kumar Dhar for allegedly transporting Rs 1 crore in a jeep.
It was after the seizure of Rs 1 crore meant for land purchase that the Gyuto Tantric University and Monastery was raided on January 28th, 2011. Police recovered currency of 26 countries, including 120,197 Chinese Yuan and Rs 5.3 million Indian currency. Subsequently, police arrested Shakti Lama, an accountant in the monastery on the suspicion that he was involved in some illegal land deal for the monastery. Later, police also arrested a couple in New Delhi in connection with the seizure of Rs 1 crore. The couple, Karma Thapa and his wife Rinzin was charged with arranging money for the monastery. Karmapa’s office has been saying that all the money recovered from the monastery was from donations from followers all over the world. Team of the ED from Chandigarh headed by Deputy Director V. Neeraja also reached the monastery February 1, 2011 to scan the account books, ledgers and documents pertaining to financial transactions.
