Indian Express 25 February, 1997

Ashwani Sharma

MCLEOD GANJ (DHARAMSALA) FEB 24

MURDER, arson, violence and escalation of tension between local Indians and the Tibetan community seem to top the agenda of the Shugden Dorjee cult whose involvement in the murder of a Tibetan guru and his two pupils has almost been established now.

The arrest of Kelson, a Tibetan youth, is being seen as a major breakthrough in the triple murder case and a greater conspiracy has come to light with these developments. The focus of the probe into the triple murder and activities of the cult has now shifted to Majnu-ka-Tilla, the headquarter of Shugden Dorjee patrons.

The state police have sent a confidential report to the Intelligence Bureau and Raw in Delhi for a "close and strict surveillance" on some of the Shugden Dorjee followers in Delhi, Karnataka, Italy and London.

According to reports compiled by the state and central intelligence teams which had visited McLeod Ganj, at least 14 top Tibetan leaders close to the Dalai Lama were in the hit list.

"Recovery of some secret documents from the possession of pro-Shugden activists" coupled with Kelson's confessional statement is likely to help the district police here nab the killers and conspirators.

Highly-placed sources said Kelson was paid Rs.10,000 by a top pro-Shugden activist in Delhi to set afire "Famous Studio" owned by a member of the Gaddi community and incite the local Indians against Tibetan for engineering arson. "This could have been a reminder of what had happened in May 1994, and had brought a bad name to Dalai Lama," a senior state police official claimed.

The strategy of the pro-Shugden seems to be to eliminate all of Dalai Lama's supporters and create tension between the local Indians and Tibetan settlers. The assassinated guru, Lobsang Gyatso, was the first target apparently because of his stand against Shugden cult.

The district police, which had sought help from Raw and the security department of the Tibetan government-in-exile, have got a lot of Tibetan literature translated to probe any possible link of the murder with possible of the murders with some secret plans of Shugden Dorjee patrons. The name of Jamphel Yeshi, president of the body representing Shugden Dorjee activists, has also cropped up in the case.