Kalki Bhagawan, who identifies himself as the tenth avatar of Vishnu, recently faced a series of raids by the Income Tax department. The IT department sleuths discovered that his ashram had hoarded as much as Rs 93 crore in cash, while an estimated Rs 409 crore of unaccounted wealth was retrieved from several of his other premises spanned across the South Indian states.
The total seizure of Rs 93 crores comprises about 88 kgs of undeclared gold jewellery and diamonds amounting to 1271 carats, worth Rs 5 crores. The US currency recovered alone is about $2.5 million (approximately Rs 18 crore). This is apart from other foreign currency seized.
About 40 locations linked to a conglomerate of trusts and companies founded by the spiritual guru that ran “wellness courses” were raided last week. The locations included premises in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Varadaiahpalem in Andhra Pradesh. These sprawling premises were utilised by the spiritual guru for his “wellness courses” and training programmes in philosophy and spirituality under numerous entities founded by him.
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A lot of residential customers from abroad opted for the courses propounded by the guru and earned considerable receipts in foreign exchange. The conglomerate, whose interests spans in a number of fields such as real estate, construction and sports in India and abroad is presently managed and controlled by the spiritual leader and his son.
Reportedly, the raids were carried out on a tip off that the group was suppressing receipts about its investments in abroad and in properties in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, according to the department. During the probe, evidence was found that the group has been regularly suppressing its receipts at its various centres or ashrams.
The IT sleuths have found incriminating evidence about the receipts being maintained outside the accounts for paying for properties over and above documented values. It was also revealed that the group was plowing money into tax havens and the tax department is currently probing the “diversion of income taxable in India to offshore entities.”
Kalki Bhagwan, born Vijay Kumar, is the founder of ‘Oneness University’, a spiritual school in South India.