Madras HC rejects Sri Premananda Trust’s plea against union govt’s notice

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court (MHC) refused to quash the notices issued against Sri Premananda Trust by the Union government, attaching its properties under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976.

A division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice N Jothiraman heard the case moved by the trust challenging the notices issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2005 and 2007 under SAFEMA.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan submitted that the trust had already submitted its reply to one of the notices issued in 2005, hence they are liable to cooperate with further proceedings.

After the submissions, the bench held that the proceedings had been put off for more than 17 years as several interim orders were issued in this regard. As the trust has already replied to the notice, hence it should be bound by the further proceedings to discharge the burden of proof, said the bench and dismissed the petition moved by the trust challenging the notices.

Several allegations were charged including murder and rape against self-proclaimed godman Premananda (since died), a refugee from Sri Lanka, who settled at Pudukkottai and established an ashram and gained popularity between the late 1980s - early 1990s.

In August 1997, the sessions court Pudukkottai held Premananda guilty and sentenced consecutive double life terms which was later upheld by the Madras High Court and Supreme Court.

Following the sentence, the income tax department conducted search operations at the ashram and seized huge unaccounted money, and documents worth several acres of land of the trust. It also froze the bank accounts with several lakhs of money deposits, seized foreign currencies, and found hawala transactions.

Hence, the Union government booked Premanada under the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act (FERA) and also invoked SAFEMA to forfeit the properties of the trust.