Buddhist leader questioned over mystery cash

INDIAN authorities are investigating the source of large amounts of money found in a monastery that is the headquarters of Tibetan Buddhism's third most important leader.

Police and revenue officials are tracking about 490,000 found in the Gyuto monastery, which is the home of Ugyen Thinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, said DS Minhas, director general of police in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

The money was in nearly two dozen foreign currencies, including a large amount of Chinese yuan, Minhas said.

"The amount of money we found was so large that we will certainly look into every angle of what could be the source, and what was the purpose," Minhas said.

Indian media have been carrying reports that the Karmapa could be a Chinese agent who was sent to India to become a leader of Tibetan Buddhists who have made their home in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala.

The Karmapa has been living in Dharmsala since his arrival from Tibet in 2000.

Minhas said police have questioned the Karmapa and would talk to him again about the source of the funds. A spokesman, Karma Chungyalpa, said the Karmapa's lawyers were preparing a statement.

"We will certainly answer all questions that the press and the public have, but for now we respectfully request you to allow us to concentrate on complying fully with the investigation that is under way," he said yesterday.

Dharmsala has been the headquarters of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile since the Dalai Lama, the 75-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, fled the Himalayan region in 1959.

China's government reviles the Dalai Lama, accusing him of pushing for independence for Tibet and sowing trouble there. A boy named by the Dalai Lama as the second-highest Tibetan spiritual leader in 1995 disappeared shortly afterwards and China selected another boy.

Police raided the Gyuto monastery on Thursday and arrested a monk on suspicion of trying to illegally buy land in the region.

The raid followed the arrest of two Indians a day earlier who were found carrying 10 million rupees (137,000) in cash, said Santosh Patial, a superintendent of police.

On questioning, the two said they had received the money from the monk, an Indian national, to buy a plot of land in Himachal Pradesh, where Dharmsala is located.

Patial said the Indians, who come from other Indian states, need special government permission to buy land in Himachal Pradesh state.