New Delhi: Controversial self-styled godman
Chandraswami and his personal secretary were today acquitted
by a Delhi court of the charge of violating Foreign Exchange
Regulation Act (FERA) relating to payments of 13,910 pounds to
law firms to fight his legal cases in the United Kingdom in
1986-87.
"I acquit accused Nemi Chand Jain alias Chandraswami
and Kailash Nath Aggarwal (personal secretary) of the charges
under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act," Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Pandey said.
The court refused to lend credence to the alleged
recoveries of various communications and letters relating to
payments made to two London-based solicitors` firms.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had conducted a search
on February 23, 1990, at the residence of Kailash Nath
Aggarwal here, which had resulted in the recovery and seizure
of documents and letters written by solicitors to
Chandraswami.
The seized documents also included the bills raised by
solicitors in connection with certain legal cases, including a
defamation suit filed by Chandraswami against Lakhu Bhai
Pathak in London.
Non-disclosure of source and submission of foreign
currency without prior permission from RBI by an Indian
national constituted an offence under the FERA, ED has said in
its complaint.
The payments to the tune of 13, 910 pounds were made to
London based law firms M/s Oswald Hickson Collier and Company
and M/s Richard C M Sykes during 1986-1987, A K Vali and
Naveen K Matta, special prosecutors of ED, said.
During the investigation, the accused took the plea
that the payments were made by some offshore devotees of
Chandraswami. They, however, failed to give details.
-PTI
