ED raids CSI church in black money case
Kochi:theenforcementdirectorate(ed)onmonday raided various premises belonging to the Church of South India (CSI) including the headquarters in state capital Trivandrum in connection with an alleged black money scam related to accepting capitation fees for admission to a medical college managed by the church.
The raids were held as part of the ED’S investigation into the case that the church-run Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College at Karakonam had accepted capitation fee for admission.
According to the ED, major share of capitation fees was held by the church authorities as unaccounted or black money.
Theedteamfromkochiraidedtheheadquarters of the diocese and interrogated moderator of the CSI church and the bishop of south Kerala diocese A Dharmaraj Rasalam.
Simultaneous raids were carried out at the residences of Church’s secretary TT Praveen and the medical director of CSI Medical College, Karakonam Dr Bennet Abraham.
“They want to do something against the church, they want to destroy the church. So they are filing cases one by one against different bodies. Let them do it we are happy to face it,” Christian Education Board Director Fr. CR Godwin told media persons on Monday.
Earlier, the church had faced an allegation that capitation fees collected from the students were parked in a separate account without any receipts or bills. The admission to the college had been embroiled in controversy ater 11 students produced fake community certificates in 2018.
The raids were conducted by the ED sleuths on a day when Dharmaraj Rasalam was supposed to leave the country. It is learnt that diocese secretary Praveen is out of station.
Theraidsarebeingconductedinacaseregistered under the money laundering Act. Even though the ED had earlier asked the bishop to appear before it for interrogation, he did not oblige, reports say.
In February this year, the Kerala High court had quashed a report by state police Crime Branch giving clean chit to Dharmaraj Rasalam and Bennet Abraham, among others in a probe into alleged financialirregularitiesinkarakonammedicalcollege.