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Indian police

indict Hindu

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NEW DELHI: India's federal police said on Friday they indicted a jet-setting Hindu holy man, who says he has known Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao for 25 years, with cheating an expatriate Indian out of $100,000.

Solicitor-General Dipankar Gupta, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), told the Supreme Court that Chandraswami (one name), who says the Sultan of Brunei and actress Elizabeth Taylor are his friends, was also charged with the conspiracy.

Gupta said charges had been filed before a Delhi court against Chandraswami, nicknamed the high-flying godman by the Indian press which pays close attention to his activities.

Court papers cited Chandraswami's political connections, and the Times of India once sketched his links to Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko.

Chandraswami says he has known Rao for 25 years. Rao, asked by a reporter on Friday why Chandraswami was allowed to visit the prime minister's home without security checks, said he had not seen Chandraswami for many days.

Last September, then junior Home (Interior) Minister, Rajesh Pilot triggered a controversy when he ordered the holy man's arrest in another case. Pilot was shifted a day later to the Environment Ministry.

Former prime minister and opposition leader, V.P. Singh said Pilot appeared to have been punished for ordering the Guru's arrest.

Earlier the Supreme Court began looking into complaints by some citizens who alleged a series of cases against Chandraswami were not being pursued because of political pressures.

Gupta said the CBI had sought permission from the federal government to pursue the case abroad, and permission was expected within two days. He gave no other detail.-Reuter