The income-tax department has frozen the bank accounts of the two trusts run by yoga guru Ramdev and asked the Divya Yog Mandir Trust and Patanjali Yog Mandir Trust to pay up Rs. 34 crore.
The trusts, registered as charitable organisations, were enjoying tax exemptions until a few months ago. The benefits have been withdrawn.
Divya Pharmacy, run by the mandir trust, manufactured medicines and was earning profit through sales and was liable to be taxed, government agencies had been saying. The yog mandir trust was organising paid yoga camps and was liable to be taxed, they said.
A week ago, a three-member I-T team visited the Patanjali Yogpeeth and accounts of both the trusts in the Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Bank of Baroda were frozen.
The UPA government was getting back at him for his anti-corruption campaign, Ramdev said in a statement issued late Saturday.
“Many senior Congress leaders are running their trusts which get heavy donations. Why have only Divya Yog Mandir and Patanjali Yogpeeth come under I-T scanner?” he told HT from Allahabad, where he is attending the Kumbh.
When contacted by HT, Haridwar I-T joint commissioner MS Minhas said he was away from the city for personal reasons and wouldn’t comment.
{{/usCountry}}When contacted by HT, Haridwar I-T joint commissioner MS Minhas said he was away from the city for personal reasons and wouldn’t comment.
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