In a startling revelation, the Chinese national Charlie Peng, who was arrested few days for alleged money-laundering, was bribing some Tibetan monks here possibly to gather information on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and his associates.
Luo Sang, who was operating under the fake name of Charlie Peng, was arrested on Tuesday during a raid in Delhi by the Income Tax Department. The Delhi Police said he is also accused of espionage conducted in September 2018. At present he is out on bail.
According to probe agency sources, he had illegally entered India from Nepal in 2014. The Income Tax department has anticipated that the key accused Charlie Peng aka Luo Sang was spying on Dalai Lama and his associates.
Sources in Income Tax department said cash between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh was given to many people, who live near Majnu Ka Tila in Delhi. People involved in all this are being identified.
Charlie Peng has been sending money to some people directly and to some other through his office staff. According to investigating agencies, Peng claims that the packets in which his staff gave him money were of Rs 2-3 lakh. The I-T department found that the entire communication was being done through the Chinese mobile applications WeChat.
The Income Tax departments also tracked down a Delhi-based Chartered Accountant who was helping the accused in hawala transactions. This CA was running more than 40 bank accounts through which transactions worth more than Rs 300 crore for Chinese Companies have been tracked down. Hawala Transactions leading to Hong Kong have also been tracked down.
Sources said he had also tried to infiltrate into the Dalai Lama’s team in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. Majnu ka Tila has a large population of Buddhists, so Charlie Peng used to approach people allegedly to gather information about the Dalai Lama.
Charlie Peng first started the noodles business in Delhi and progressed to the big hawala racket and was first arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in the year 2018. However, he was released a few days later. This time he was arrested again and agencies believe that several big revelations will come to light.
Charlie Peng’s business gradually grew in Delhi. After this, through a broker, he also got the Indian Aadhaar card and PAN card made. Later, he shifted from Dwarka to Gurugram. Investigative agencies are trying to find out which other Chinese citizens are in touch with Charlie Peng and how many of them have formed shell companies through which money-laundering is being done.