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NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 6, 2007: (HPI note: the following story appeared in the Hindustan Times.) “A covert investigation by TV news channel IBN 7 in collaboration with Cobrapost has exposed babas who are ever ready to turn people’s illegal money into white. The undercover team pretended to be representatives of a large corporate group that was looking to convert their black money into white and had therefore approached these babas. In three exposes, the channel showed Vedanti Maharaj, chairman of the Ramjanmabhoomi Trust in Ayodhya, Kapil Advait, former wing commander who fought for India in the 1965 and 1971 wars and later became Pilot Baba, and Guruvayur Surya Nambudiri, who is famous for making prophecies, were willing to do the conversion for a fee fixed as percentage of the amount to be converted. The babas are shown offering to take the money from the corporate representatives and in return write them a cheque back for the same amount – making it look like they were paying the corporates for their services to their (babas) charitable institutions and organizations. The VHP, of course, reacted strongly denouncing the expose as an attempt to malign the sadhus and the Hindu community. IBN said in a press release that it is a well-known fact that by investing money in charitable institutions one gets a considerate amount of tax rebate. What the babas asked for in return for helping them was a chunk of the rebate the corporates after making their so-called ‘donations.’ “

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