"Deepak Chopra sues ex-partner over $5M donation"

New age health guru Deepak Chopra is battling a former pal and business partner over a $5 million donation for “consciousness” research.

Medical researcher Jim Walsh is trying to wrest the millions away from the 66-year-old doctor and best-selling author for his own use even though it is earmarked for Chopra, a lawsuit filed Wednesday claims.

Chopra, in a legal salvo he filed in a Los Angeles state court, claims he handed Walsh $150,000 in recent months, in part to set up and run The Consciousness Project, a nonprofit that would study consciousness and spirituality.

Walsh, instead of setting up a new nonprofit, simply papered over one of his own organizations, the suit claims.

The two men met last March and apparently hit it off instantly. One month later, Chopra put Walsh on the board of The Chopra Foundation, according to the suit.

By September, Chopra had given Walsh $80,000 to help set up the nonprofit, the suit alleges.

Chopra also gave Walsh $75,000 in exchange for a stake in Walsh’s research-and-development company, HESA Institute, which lists major universities and partners in its work of finding computer-based cures for autism and other disorders.

But the relationship soured almost as soon as it started.

“In time, Dr. Chopra and the Chopra Foundation began to learn about Walsh, his business practice and his past,” the lawsuit said. “A look into Walsh revealed a trail of unsuccessful, abandoned or failed companies and projects, lawsuit judgments, liens and bankruptcies.”

Walsh didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

NY Post