Chadrel Rinpoche (Tibetan: བྱ་བྲལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wylie: bya bral rin po che) was born in 1939 in Shigatse, Tibet.

In 1954, he joined the Tashilhunpo Monastery at the age of 15, and was forced to work in a labor camp during the Cultural Revolution in Tibet.

Chadrel Rinpoche was communicating with the 14th Dalai Lama and others following the authentic recognition process, which was permitted by China.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reports that Champa Chungla, his assistant and deputy director of the monastery, was also disappeared from the airport.

As his secretary, Champa (or Jampa) Chungla was sentenced to four years, also incarcerated and put under house arrest, and later died from a continuous denial of medical care.