Income Tax raids on Kalki Bhagwan, a self-styled godman, in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, have reportedly uncovered over Rs 30 crore in unaccounted wealth, investigation officials said. Kalki is the founder of Oneness University, a spiritual school.
According to media reports, Rs 9 crore of unaccounted cash in US dollars was uncovered during simultaneous raids by over 300 I-T sleuths on 40 premises of Kalki and his son Krishna's business ventures in the south.
Searches were also conducted at his head ashram in Varadaiahpalem of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. Officials are probing allegations of unaccounted foreign donations to the ashram and charges of tax evasion. The religious organisation also reportedly faces allegations of land grabbing.
The raids, which began on Wednesday and continued on Thursday, are expected to conclude by Friday.
The I-T officials in Hyderabad also conducted a search at the office of Studio N, a Telugu news outlet that is said to have ties with Kalki. Most of the money was found in Chennai and Chittoor, along with documents uncovering several business transactions and real-estate property deeds, which were previously unaccounted for, officials said.
According to media reports, Kalki was born Vijay Kumar Naidu and began his career as a clerk at the Life Insurance Corporation in 1971, before joining the J Krishnamurthy Foundation in the 1980s. He was expelled later. He then began claiming that he was a 'bhagwan' or god, and by the early 1990s, he started a cult.
Kalki claims to have supernatural powers and promises 'nirvana' or enlightenment to his devotees, which include prominent politicians, industrialists and film stars. By 1999, Kalki set up a campus in Chennai called Somamangalam, and also founded ‘Oneness University’.