By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, February 5 – Two aides of the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, sought anticipatory bail on Friday in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Thomar in Una town near Punjab Himachal border.
After hearing the plea of Gompo Tsering, secretary of the Karmapa, and Tenzin Namgyal, a trustee of a Karmapa trust, the court announced the next hearing for Monday, February 7, 2011.
“Foreign currency worth Rs.400,000 was recovered from Tsering’s house,” Additional Director General of Police S.R. Mardi told IANS. Police had raided Tsering’s house in Dehradun on January 29.
Meanwhile, a Tibetan couple were arrested on charges of arranging Rs.1 crore in Delhi for the monastery and have been remanded to police custody till February 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 was quoted by IANS as saying.
Seven people, including the Karmapa’s aide Rabgay Chosang, are in police custody.
The Karmapa’s office denied “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.
The Dalai Lama, on a visit to Bangalore earlier, has expressed confidence in the Karmapa but called for a thorough probe into the matter. The Karmapa’s office 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”.
