Ramdev's trust set to lose charitable status

New Delhi: More trouble for yoga guru Ramdev who has been staging protests against corruption as his trust may lose charitable status. This means that donations will no longer be tax free.

The Income Tax Department has said that Ramdev's Patanjali Peeth Yog is not doing any charity but is a commercial organisation.

The tax depratment found that the trust's income was over Rs 72 crore, even though Patanjali had claimed that its income was nil.

The Income Tax Department has said that Ramdev\'s Patanjali Peeth Yog is not doing any charity but is a commercial organisation.

Baba's close aide Acharya Balkrishna too is under fire from the Enforcement Directorate.

CNN-IBN had last week accessed a status report in which the ED had filed an FIR against Balkrishna for using a forged passport to open trusts in the UK and US.

The ED is also probing whether Balkrishna is a foreigner. If that can be proved then Balkrishna's directorship in 34 of Ramdev's companies can be cancelled and the penalty the companies will pay will run into crores.

Ramdev's trusts had come under renewed scrutiny after he started a campaign against the government.

Removing the charity tag from Patanjali is aimed to hit the Baba where it hurts the most and the government’s all out offensive against the yoga guru is confined not just to his trusts but extends to his companies and even his colleagues. And while Ramdev's stand is this is a witch hunt, the fact is that this information has been with the government for some time now. It’s only the timing that is now a suspect.

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