Kerala: ED raids at CSI Kerala diocese, church in Thiruvananthapuram
Jul 25, 2022
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], July 25 : Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted a raid at the Mateer Memorial Church here in Kerala's capital city.
The ED also raided the headquarters of the CSI South Kerala diocese, which houses the office of Church supreme leader Bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam.
The raids were done following allegations of corruption at the Church-run medical college at Karakonam. According to the allegations, huge amounts of money were taken on the pretext of offering admission to medical college.
Simultaneous raids were also being carried out at the residences of Church's secretary T T Praveen and the medical director of CSI Medical College, Karakonam Dr Bennet Abraham.
"They want to do something against the church, they want to destroy the church. So they are filing cases one by one against different bodies. Let them do it we are happy to face it," Christian Education Board Director Fr. C R Godwin told ANI.
"Today morning at 6.30 they came and started the raid. They did not inform us. Till now the questioning is going on and Bishop has a conference to attend, if they leave we are happy," he added.
Meanwhile, the ED on Saturday arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee after the probe agency recovered huge cash amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore from the aide Arpita Mukherjee's residence on Friday.
The raids were conducted at Arpita Mukherjee's residential premises in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state.
The said amount is suspected to be the proceeds of the crime of said SSC scam. A total of more than 20 mobile phones have also been recovered from the premises of Arpita Mukherjee, the purpose and use of which are being ascertained, said the probe agency.
Besides cash, a number of other incriminating documents, records, details of dubious companies, electronic devices, foreign currency and gold have also been recovered from the various premises of the persons linked to the scam.
