A continuing church bishop has been arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly selling a vacant plot of land owned by the state governemt. The Rt. Rev. Rockus B. Sandhu, Bishop of the Anglican Church of India which claims to be the lawful successor of the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, was taken into custody by officers of the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police last November. He was jailed for three day and has since been released on bond pending trial.
An investor, Timpi Sabharwal, told police she was approached by Sandhu and an associate who offered her a plot of vacant land near Karbala, New Delhi at a reduced price. Sandhu claimed to have lawful authority to sell the parcel, and accepted a $500,000 deposit from the buyer. “The full and final payment was to be made when the sale-deed was to be executed in favour of the complainant but once he usurped the aforesaid amount, he had lost interest in the deal and never executed sale-deed,” a police spokesman told the Times of India.
Police arrested Sandhu shortly thereafter after he was labeled a fugitive from justice.
In 2015 Sandhu was sentenced to three years imprisonment for selling a church belonging to the Diocese of Amritsar to land speculators. He was found to have forged a power of attorney giving him control of the property, which he then sold to speculators.
The case continues
