India clears Karmapa on all charges

Indian authorities cleared the Karmapa lama, Tibetan Buddhism's third most important leader, in a probe into $1.35 million in cash discovered last month at his headquarters in northern India, various newspapers reported.

Last week, state police probing the case said the Karmapa's followers violated Indian tax and foreign currency laws in collecting the donations.

Police and revenue officials searched the Gyuto Tantric Monastery and twice questioned Ugyen Thinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, and his aides about the source of the money.

However, the scuttlebutt is that the whole thing was just a ploy by the local BJP to score some points against the Congress's Veerbhadra Singh, and to capitalize on anti-refugee sentiment resulting from the economic successes of Tibetans in the tourism business.