'Kalki Bhagwan' In Trouble: After I-T raids, ED to probe self-styled Godman for FEMA violations

V Vijayakumar, popularly known as self-styled godman ‘Kalki Bhagwan’ is in trouble. After the raids by the Income Tax department unveiled massive, undeclared wealth worth crores, the Enforcement Directorate is likely to launch probe against him for FEMA violations. The 70-year-old became a “godman” in the 1990s after a short stint as an LIC clerk. He also tried his hand at starting an education institute. But due to huge losses, he was forced to declare the bankruptcy. He went underground shortly after that. Later, he started calling himself as the 10th ‘avatar’ of Lord Vishnu. He also has a palatial ashram in Karnataka. Not only him, his wife Padmavathi also claimed that she too has divine powers and devotees should call her Bhagwathi.

Last week, the Income Tax department had searched in the premises of a group of firms founded by spiritual guru ‘Kalki’ Bhagwan that led to unearthing of unaccounted cash receipts to the tune of Rs 409 crore. The premises of a conglomerate of trusts and companies founded by the spiritual guru that ran “wellness courses” at Varadaiahpalem in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai and Bengaluru were searched on Wednesday.

During the searches, evidence has been found that the group has been regularly suppressing its receipts at its various centres or ashrams, a tax department release said. “It is learnt that the group also earned unaccounted income in receiving cash from property sales over and above documented values. A preliminary estimate of such unaccounted cash receipts is Rs 409 crore from Financial Year 2014-15 onwards,” the release added.

The tax department, however, refrained from naming Kalki Bhagwan and instead confined itself to describing him as a spiritual guru with “oneness” philosophy. On Tuesday, ‘Kalki Bhagwan’ issued a video statement saying that he has not fled the country. Kalki Bhagwan on Tuesday has denied rumours of him leaving the country and said that the government and Income Tax department have not said that he fled the country.

"I am very much here in the country. Neither the I-T department nor the government is saying that we have fled the country," he said in a video. "We would like to thank all our devotees, who stood by us and have been posting wonderful messages on social media," he added.