The money was found last January during a police raid on the Karmapa’s monastery. It was in a range of currencies, and the Karmapa’s aides said it had been donated by his followers, who came from all over the world.
But the amount of cash, which included a large amount of Chinese yuan, concerned police, who said the sums were too large to be merely from donations.
The raid on the Gyuto Monastery was unprecedented and particularly surprising since the Karmapa, Ugyen Thinley Dorje, is revered by Tibetans and Buddhists. India has gone to great lengths to provide asylum to Buddhist leaders who have fled Tibet, including the Dalai Lama.
The Karmapa, 26, is seen as one of the Dalai Lama’s potential successors as the leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
On Wednesday, police filed charges against the Karmapa and three of his followers in a local court at the end of the investigation, said Sumedha Diwedi, a superintendent of police.
The court will soon examine the evidence submitted by the police and decide whether the Karmapa and his followers should be tried on the charges.
There was no immediate comment by the Karmapa’s office.
While the Karmapa was charged with conspiracy and knowledge of undeclared money, the three followers face the additional charges of cheating and forgery of documents. If convicted, the Karmapa faces up to two years in prison, and his followers up to 10 years.
Diwedi said police have also sought the permission of the federal government to prosecute the Karmapa and the followers for allegedly violating India’s foreign currency laws in collecting the donations.
The Karmapa left Tibet in 2000. Since then, he has been living at the monastery in Sidhbari, just outside Dharmsala, which has been the headquarters of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile since the Dalai Lama 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 in 1995 as the second-highest Tibetan spiritual leader, the Panchen Lama, disappeared shortly afterward, and China selected another boy.
