Church of South India bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam was stopping from flying to the UK
The bishop of a church in Kerala was stopped at Thiruvananthapuram airport from going to Britain on Tuesday as an investigation into alleged irregularities in a medical college run by the church is going on, officials have said.
Emigration officials stopped bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam at the airport in Kerala's capital city after a request by the Enforcement Directorate, which is looking into alleged financial wrongdoings in running Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College, the matter which came to be known as the Karakonam medical college scam.
The hospital, the medical college and all other institutions linked to it are run by the Church of South India, or CSI.
Enforcement Directorate officials met with Mr Rasalam later and told him to come for questioning tomorrow.
A team of the central probe agency yesterday raided the CSI South Kerala diocese headquarters in connection with a case over allegedly collecting huge sums from students by promising them a medical seat at the church-run hospital.
Father CR Godwin, director of the Christian Education Board, told reporters that the crime branch had already conducted an enquiry into the matter.
"As I said earlier, 25 people have filed cases against the medical college regarding capitation and the case was in the court. ED [Enforcement Directorate] wants to know more about the case. We are happy to clarify, they are questioning the bishop and he is happy to give answers to their questions. They reached at 6.30 am [on Monday] and started the raid. They did not inform us earlier," Mr Godwin said yesterday.
The Kerala High Court in February dismissed a report by the Crime Branch that cleared the church of any wrongdoing in the matter.