The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, July 26 issued a notice to Church of South India (CSI) Bishop, A Dharmaraj Rasalam, to appear before it with regard to the probe over corruption allegations at the church's Karakonam medical college. The Bishop, earlier in the day, was stopped at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, where he reached to travel to England to take part in the Lambeth Conference. Church sources told PTI that Rasalam will appear before the ED at Kochi on Wednesday.
"He was supposed to attend the Lambeth Conference which is convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It's a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion. However, he was stopped at the airport without any prior notice. Even though the ED had conducted inspection yesterday, they did not warn that the Bishop must not leave the country to attend the conference," a church official told PTI.
The official said the Bishop has already reached Kochi from Thiruvananthapuram to appear before the probe agency on Wednesday.
The ED had on Monday conducted raids at institutions connected with the church over a case related to Karakonam medical college.
The raid was in connection with a case registered for allegedly collecting huge amounts of money from students, promising them a medical seat at the Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College in Karakonam, which is run by the church.
However, Fr. C R Godwin, the Director of the Christian Education Board, had told the media that the Crime Branch had already conducted an inquiry in the matter.
Earlier, in February, the High Court had quashed a report of the Crime Branch giving the church authorities a clean chit in the Karakonam case.