Karmapa aides quizzed by ED

Headed by Deputy Director (North) V Neerja, the ED team reached the Gyuto Monastery at Sidhbari just before noon and had a marathon question-answer session lasting four hours and 40 minutes.

The ED officials asked the managers of the trust and the monastery about the sources of foreign currencies of 25 countries including China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the UK, the US, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam recovered during the raids.

Sources said the ED team did not directly question the Karmapa but its members met him. Neerja avoided the media and immediately went into the car without answering any question. Asked whether she was satisfied with replies to the questions posed to the manger of the trust, she simply said "yes" and left.

In New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K Dhumal said the state government has nothing to do with the issue as the Centre is investigating the matter. Dhumal also asked the Centre to reimburse the expenses being incurred by the state government over the security of the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa.

Meanwhile, sources said the Gyuto Monastery was already under the scanner of ED and its agencies had been tracking the money received at the monastery. A team of Himachal Police had questioned Karmapa on Sunday but he said he was not aware about the foreign currency and other documents seized from the monastery and shifted the onus on managers of the trust and monastery.

The team has also questioned the monastery officials about violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as they were not allowed to deposit foreign money in the banks. On the other hand, Una police continued scrutiny of the documents seized during the raids and was trying to link these documents to foreign currencies, the source and the purpose for which they were obtained.

The trust officials had all along maintained that the currency was offerings and donations from disciples of Karmapa from across the world and there was nothing illegal. Five persons have been arrested so far and are being questioned. They include Sanjay Dutt and Ashutosh, from whom currency worth Rs 1 crore was seized at Una border on January 26; Shakti Lama, main administrator of the trust; Dharamsala-based hotelier K P Bharadwaj and manager of Ambala branch of Corporation Bank Dhar.

Meanwhile, the Tibetan community has come out openly in favour of Karmapa while local people have urged the police and district administration to stop the Tibetans from holding protests rallies as they were creating tension between locals and Tibetans.