Rs 24 cr cash, US dollars worth 9 cr seized in I-T raids on godman’s premises

Income Tax Department sources said that the raids were carried out at 40 places, including Chennai and “world headquarters of the Kalki movement,” Golden City at Varadaiahpalem in Andhra Pradesh. Krishna, the godman’s son, has allegedly invested huge sum of money in the venture of his associates and taxmen suspect financial misappropriation and tax evasion in it.

“So far the raiding teams at various places had seized around Rs 24 crore unaccounted cash and US dollars worth Rs 9 crore apart from documents. Details about the investments in various African countries were also recovered during the searches,” sources said. Vijayakumar Naidu, who was working as a clerk with Life Insurance of India, went on to ‘become’ Kalki, the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu and christened himself as ‘Kalki Bhagavan,’ who promises of delivering instant nirvana. He has a large number of devotees in India and abroad.

His ashram was in the news in 2008 when five people died and many were injured in a stampede. Sources said that at the ashram, an ordinary darshan of the couple – Kalki and his wife – is priced at Rs 5,000 and special darshan costs Rs 25,000. The self-styled godman also faces allegations of land grabbing, but his associates had refuted them.