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German authorities have discontinued their investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Karnam Dhaman Kumar, the Bishop of the Diocese of Nalgonda in Telangana, since the statute of limitations on the alleged offences has expired. The statute of limitation is the legal time limit within which a person must file a lawsuit or initiate legal proceedings.
The allegation, which a complainant reported to the Diocese of Münster, Germany in March 2025, relates to the years 2005 to 2007.
Dhaman Kumar was appointed as the Bishop of Nalgonda diocese by Pope Francis in February 2024. Until then, he had been serving as a parish priest in the Diocese of Münster.
Following the sexual abuse complaint, he was barred from carrying out any priestly duties in the Diocese of Münster.
“The proceedings have been discontinued because the investigation revealed that any criminal offenses were already statute-barred. Therefore, no further investigations have taken place,” a spokesperson for the Münster Public Prosecutor told TNM.
In Germany, the statute of limitations is governed by Section 78 of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch or StGB) and is determined by the severity of the punishment for the offense. It can range from three years to 30 years.
“In the present case, the statute of limitations was five years,” the Münster Public Prosecutor’s office said, adding that the investigation looked into allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
According to Section 78 of the StGB, the limitation period is five years in the case of offenses which are punishable by a maximum sentence of imprisonment of more than one year but no more than five years.
The Münster Public Prosecutor’s office also noted that as per Section 78b(1)(i), the statute of limitations is stayed for certain offenses until the victim reaches the age of 30.
The complaint, reported in March this year, is about allegations dating back nearly 20 years, during the years 2005 to 2007.
In April this year, about a month before Dhaman Kumar was due to visit a parish in Germany where he had previously served as a priest, the Münster diocese prohibited him from any priestly activities in the diocese until further notice, citing the sexual abuse allegations.
When the alleged incident of sexual abuse happened, Dhaman Kumar was serving as a chaplain in various churches in Münster, according to a statement issued on April 24, 2025 by the Diocese of Münster.
The Münster diocese had said its Intervention Officer filed a report with the Münster Public Prosecutor’s office, which has carried out the now-closed investigation.
The Münster diocese also mentioned that as per the rules for reporting sexual abuse in the Catholic Church issued by Pope Francis in 2019, they had informed the Archbishop of Hyderabad, Cardinal Anthony Poola, of the allegations against Dhaman Kumar as the Nalgonda diocese falls under the purview of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad.
However, the Archdiocese of Hyderabad had claimed back in June that the Archbishop had not received any such information from Germany.