I-T probe reveals Asaram has Rs 2,300 crore in undisclosed income

The Income Tax department's investigation into the accounts of jailed self-proclaimed godman Asaram has discovered nearly Rs 2,300 crore in undisclosed income since the financial year 2008-09. It has also found crores worth of 'benami investments' allegedly linked to Asaram and his followers in real estate, mutual funds, shares, Kisan Vikas Patras and fixed deposits.

Official sources say that the department has now recommended the cancellation of tax exemptions given to the charitable trusts controlled by Asaram, according to The Indian Express.

Asaram allegedly also ran a lending scheme via his followers, that offered loans to individuals and entities at a monthly interest rate of 1-2 per cent, said the sources. Since 1991-92, the godman and his followers loaned at least Rs 3,800 crore to over 1,400 borrowers across India.

"The money was loaned in cash, with post-dated cheques, promissory notes and land-purchase deeds as security. We suspect that the scheme was used by Asaram and his followers to conceal donations received by the ashrams," said I-T sources.

Asaram has been jailed since 2013 for an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl at his ashram near Jodhpur.

Neelam Dubey, spokesperson of Sant Shri Asaramji Ashram, said: "This is a conspiracy against Bapuji and a direct attack on Hindu dharma. Bapuji does not have any assets, he does not even own a car. Every asset is in the name of the trusts and belongs to his followers. He is the biggest Hindu saint in the world. He has been in jail for three years but no charges have been proved till now."

However, official sources that the I-T department, over the last year, raided 71 premises that allegedly belonged to Asaram and his followers in 11 cities and seized 22,000 documents and 300 GB data pertaining to financial dealings.

Officials say Asaram and his followers control more than 400 ashrams registered as charitable trusts, but declared only one tenth of the actual donations they received over the last 20 years.

A tax raid on one of Asaram's followers last September apparently revealed five bags of post-dated cheques, promissory notes, plot purchase deeds and allotment letters of flats that had allegedly been obtained as security from at least 80 borrowers in Mumbai and Pune.

A financial document dated to October 2013, recovered by the I-T department, said that Asaram earned an interest income of Rs 419 crore a year, with Rs 163 crore as cash in hand. So far, the I-T department has recovered Rs 7 crore in cash and provisionally attached 121 properties worth about Rs 500 crore.