The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed controversial guru Chandraswami - who is facing a number of criminal charges - to travel abroad after depositing a sum of Rs.1 million in cash with the government.

A bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice R.M. Loha, while granting Chandraswami permission to travel abroad, also asked the government to return his passport after renewing it.

Restrained from going abroad for his alleged role in a clutch of criminal cases, including Lakhu Bhai Pathak cheating case involving former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, Chandraswami will be going abroad after a gap of 14 years.