Dharamsala: Thousands of devotees and monks Wednesday took out a peaceful march here to express solidarity with their religious leader, the 17th Karmapa, who was questioned by police last week over the recovery of unaccounted currency worth nearly Rs.70 million from his monastery.
The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is considered the third most important Tibetan religious head after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, later addressed the gathering at the Gyuto Tantric University and Monastery, saying the investigating agencies are doing their work.
"Let the investigating agencies do their work. Truth will prevail," he said in his brief address to the followers in Tibetan language.
A string of central government agencies is attempting to get to the bottom of the recovery of unaccounted currency that includes 1.1 million Chinese Yuan (Rs.7 million) and over 600,000 US dollars.
A Himachal Pradesh Police team twice questioned the Karmapa about the currency recovery. Even the Enforcement Directorate Tuesday scanned documents and questioned functionaries.
Carrying lighted joss sticks, pictures of the Karmapa and banners, the devotees, including some foreigners, said their spiritual leader was wrongly mired in a controversy.
"The allegations are totally unfounded. We are greatly perturbed. The `guruji` is here to propagate Buddhism and spiritualism. He has nothing to do with money collection," Nubra Chokey told IANS.
The procession started from McLeodganj and culminated at the Gyuto monastery after covering a distance of over 20 km.
"Let the investigating agencies do their work. Truth will prevail," he said in his brief address to the followers in Tibetan language.
A string of central government agencies is attempting to get to the bottom of the recovery of unaccounted currency that includes 1.1 million Chinese Yuan (Rs.7 million) and over 600,000 US dollars.
A Himachal Pradesh Police team twice questioned the Karmapa about the currency recovery. Even the Enforcement Directorate Tuesday scanned documents and questioned functionaries.
Carrying lighted joss sticks, pictures of the Karmapa and banners, the devotees, including some foreigners, said their spiritual leader was wrongly mired in a controversy.
"The allegations are totally unfounded. We are greatly perturbed. The `guruji` is here to propagate Buddhism and spiritualism. He has nothing to do with money collection," Nubra Chokey told IANS.
The procession started from McLeodganj and culminated at the Gyuto monastery after covering a distance of over 20 km.
