hi
many godman has huge ashrams/go shalas in large landed property......many are tax empted and benamis....
Sir,
There are Godmen who are not only evading tax but also involve in other controversial activities....
1) Sant Rampal
Sant Rampal, as he is called by his followers set up Satlok Ashram in 1999 after he came in contact with a seer named Ramdevanand. Soon, he had a number of followers and began opening ashrams all over Haryana.
The 63-year-old engineer, today, owns a fleet of luxury cars, and lives in an ashram in Barwala, Haryana, spread over a sprawling 12 acres.
His legal woes began in 2006 when he clashed with supporters of Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, which led to the death of one person.
Since then, Rampal, who faces contempt of court, murder and attempt to murder cases in various courts, has skipped hearings 42 times.
Rampal is said to have over 25 lakh followers in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi and has his own Facebook and YouTube page too, with a huge fan following.
For the last 10 days, Rampal’s ashram has witnessed violent clashes as his supporters have been refusing the police entry into the guarded fortress, which also led to the deaths of six devotees.
2) Nithyananda
Popular for his spiritual discourses and meditation programmes, Swami Nithyananda was named as one of the 100 most spiritually influential living people in the world by Watkins’
Mind Body Spirit magazine.
He claims to be the most-watched spiritual teacher on
YouTube.com with more than 14 million views, and the author of more than 300 books published in 27 languages.
Controversies:
1: Nithyananda landed in a controversy after a purported video footage showing him in a compromising position with an actress was telecast by local TV channels. Nithyananda said the video was morphed and manipulated to misrepresent his personal life but did not deny his images with actress Ranjita in the film.
The video aired on Tamil TV channels caused a furore, with some Hindu groups and others protesting against Nithyananda. The Karnataka government too promised "very strict" action against him.
Lenin Karuppan, who had exposed the alleged sex scandal, was arrested after a complaint by the manager of Nithyananda's ashram that Lenin had demanded money to keep the video secret.
2: Swami Nithyananda was also accused of rape by Indian-born American citizen, Arthi Rao, in June 2012. Rao went on Indian television accusing Nithyananda of raping her for several years. Nithyananda again denied the allegations.
3) Chandraswami
His association with former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao brought Chandraswami -- the controversial
tantrik -- into prominence.
Interestingly, the godman’s finances have fluctuated with his political fortunes.
Controversies:
1: Chandraswami has been accused of several financial irregularities and was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay a penalty in several Foreign Exchange Management Act violation cases registered by the enforcement directorate. The ED has imposed a total penalty of Rs 9 crore (approx) on Chandraswami in 13 cases of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act violations for acquiring foreign exchange in contravention of the Act.
2: In 1996, he was arrested on charges of defrauding a London-based businessman of $100,000.
3: The CBI has been investigating the suspected role of the self-styled godman in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The Jain Commission dedicated a volume to his alleged involvement in the assassination. The Enforcement Directorate is still investigating his alleged role as financier in the killing.
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