Roerich Trust ex-official summoned in visa case

Shimla : A foreign national associated with Russian painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich’s multi-crore estate near Kullu town in Himachal Pradesh has been summoned to answer charges of violating visa rules, a police official said Monday.

Alena Adamkova, associated with the International Roerich Memorial Trust (IRMT) for almost a decade and curator-cum-executive director of the Roerich Museum, is in India on an employment visa.

“This (Monday) evening a notice was served on her to appear in FRO (foreigner registration office) Tuesday morning,” Kullu’s Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar told IANS.

Government officials said Adamkova was re-issued a visa with a rider that she could not visit Kullu. But she arrived there Feb 21.

“We have given an opportunity to hear her. Any further action, if any, will be decided after that,” Kumar added.

The work visa of Adamkova was extended despite objections from the trust’s Indian members, who said she was allegedly involved in financial irregularities.

“The (Indian) trustees, who are her employers, were not in favour of granting work visa again to her. Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu, who is also a member of the trust, wrote to the foreign secretary not to renew Admakova’s work visa that expired in January,” a trustee said.

“But before the secretary took note of it, Adamkova got it for a year,” the trustee said.

On reaching Kullu, she visited FRO but authorities there refused to register her name owing to violations in visa norms.

The trust was founded by Roerich’s daughter-in-law, the late film actress Devika Rani. Registered in April 1993, the 13-member trust also has Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M. Kadakin as a trustee, while Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is the ex-officio president.