New Delhi, September 03: Refuting that his trust has violated any FERA norms, Baba Ramdev on Saturday hit back at the government saying that there was an attempt to malign him.
Firing salvos Baba Ramdev said that there was a “conspiracy” against him in order to stop him from carrying forward his movement against corruption. He added that the same was done to Anna Hazare and his team.
Addressing a press conference in the capital, the yoga guru clarified that he has yet to receive any notice from the Enforcement Directorate. He emphasised, “The money received by both my trust has been within the rules of FCRA” adding, “No rules has been broken by me or my trust.”
Expressing sadness over media reports doing rounds pertaining to ED tightening its noose around him, the yoga guru said that he had done a tremendous “service to the nation by protecting the heritage of Ayurveda in all its purity and have been treating people of various ailments for the past twenty years.”
Baba Ramdev revealed that he and his trust did not have, “any direct relation with any company” and also that Patanjali Yogpeeth was not a company.
On a dramatic note the yoga guru added, “I work 365 days a year. I have no personal life. I have no bank accounts in my name. I also do not have an inch of land in my name.” He put forth the question, “What is wrong with that?”
Baba Ramdev lamented. “Nationalists are being humiliated in this country. I have not done anything to bring down the name of my country.”
The Enforcement Directorate has registered a foreign exchange violation case against Baba Ramdev and his trusts.
The Directorate registered the case on the basis of a report from the RBI and inputs from abroad on “suspicious” financial transactions done by Ramdev’s trusts, the official sources said.
The ED had earlier allegedly found foreign remittances and inflow of certain funds during its discreet probe in the case and the action has now been taken under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the sources said.
In connection with its probe into Ramdev’s finances, the ED had approached authorities in the UK seeking financial details about an island in Scotland that was ‘gifted’ to the Yoga guru by a couple who are among his followers.
The Little Cumbrae Island, off the fishing town of Largs in Scotland, serves as Ramdev’s base overseas and also as a wellness centre. The Directorate has asked the authorities in the UK to help it get inputs on funding-related aspects of the island, the sources said.
The ED’s probe is aimed at checking the flow of money and transactions through various trusts floated by Ramdev including the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust, Divya Yoga Mandir Trust and Bharat Swabhiman Trust, they said.
The agency had also approached officials in the island nation of Madagascar.
—–Agencies