The Bishop in Lucknow, the Rt. Rev. Morris Dan, has been arrested for fraud.
Police executed a warrant for arrest issued by the Allahabad High Court on 15 Dec 2013 against Bishop Dan in connection with criminal cases lodged against him in Jhansi and Allahabad for fraud and forgery.
Stephen Singh a trustee of the United Church of Northern India Trust Association had lodged a criminal complaint, a FIR, against Bishop Dan on 29 April 2013. The complaint alleged the bishop had violated Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code by having engaged in a criminal breach of trust, conspiracy and fraud by selling lands belonging to the trust. The complaint alleged the bishop had forged documents and signatures in conveying the land and had pocketed over $600,000 from the deal.
In May the court granted the bishop bail in the case, but it dismissed a counter claim filed by the bishop against Mr. Singh in July holding a prima facie case of fraud had been made in the original complaint.
In June the Allahabad High Court stayed two other arrest warrants lodged against the bishop. . On 22 April Paul Geniya lodged an FIR – the initial complaint in Indian criminal court proceedings — accusing the bishop of threatening his life and for having held him in captivity.
The second complaint filed by Subodh Kumar Srivastava of Agra alleged the bishop had forged documents in order to allow him to the property of Luckow Diocese Trust Association. Last month the bishop was granted bail in two other criminal proceedings were he had been charged with theft of diocesan assets.
The bishop’s legal battles reached public notice in July 2011 after he held a press conference accusing Mr. C V Innes, the former principal of the diocesan owned Boys’ High School in Allahabad, of conspiring to kill him.
Bishop Dan told reporters that “with the help of former Bishop AR Stephen, Innes had got the by-laws of society changed and announced that the Bishop of Lucknow will not be the chairman of the Allahabad High School Society.”
The bishop demanded the government protect him from Mr. Innes and Bishop Stephen’s supporters. School leaders had sought to remove Bishop Dan after accusations of theft of school assets were leveled against the bishop.
