The top court in India’s southern Kerala state has dismissed a Protestant bishop’s plea to drop an ongoing probe into his alleged money laundering case.
Bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam of the South Kerala diocese, a former moderator of the Church of South India (CSI), is accused of collecting 72.25 million rupees (some $842,500 ) from prospective students by promising them admission to a Church-run medical college.
Pleading innocence, Rasalam urged the Kerala High Court to restrain the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a federal agency dealing with economic offenses, from continuing the probe.
However, a single bench of Justice V. G. Varun dismissed the prelate’s petition in an order released on March 27.
The probe agency told the court that 28 candidates’ parents were made to pay money by promising admissions to various courses at the Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College in Karakonam, Kerala.
Investigation revealed that the bishop sent “parents of prospective students to Sri Thankaraj, the then Comptroller of the Medical College.” At his direction, they would hand over money to a clerk in the medical college.
The probe agency said many applicants did not gain admission as promised after paying the money, which was used to develop the medical college’s infrastructure and also diverted to the South Kerala diocese.
Rasalam’s “role in the trail of the tainted money is well-established and he is therefore liable to be prosecuted for money laundering,” it added.
Rasalam claimed the allegations were false and said he “neither had sought any money nor taken it from anybody.”
Shinu J Pillai, the counsel for the prelate, told the court that “being the bishop of CSI and de facto chairman of multiple educational institutions, the petitioner is not directly involved in their day-to-day administration.”
“As far as medical admissions are concerned, the petitioner had only advised the parents, who approached him,” he added.
Pillai said the crime branch of Kerala state police had earlier probed the case against the bishop and found the allegations against him were “totally false.”
The Kerala high court refused to accept the findings of the crime branch and allowed the federal agency to continue its probe.
The ED detained Rasalam on July 26, 2022, at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport before he could board a flight to the United Kingdom and banned him from leaving the country following charges of money laundering.
“The CSI suffered immensely under Bishop Rasalam as its moderator, as there were complaints of maladministration by him,” said a Church official who did not want to be named.
The Madras High Court, the top court in southern Tamil Nadu state, where the CSI headquarters is based, appointed a panel of administrators under a retired high court judge to manage its affairs in April last year.
However, the Supreme Court of India stayed the order in May, leaving the CSI without an administrative setup.
“We still maintain the status quo as per the Supreme Court order,” the Church official told UCA News on March 28.
The CSI was formed in 1947 after India’s independence from Britain as a union of Protestant denominations. Its counterpart in northern India is known as the Church of North India (CNI).
The CSI has 24 dioceses, including one in neighboring Sri Lanka.