The Church of South India’s Bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam on Wednesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in an alleged corruption case, PTI reported.
The development came a day after immigration officials at the Thiruvananthapuram airport stopped the bishop from travelling to the United Kingdom. The immigration officials had said that they had acted as per the instructions of the Enforcement Directorate.
Rasalam was slated to attend the Lambeth conference – a meeting of bishops of the Anglican Church from around the world – in the United Kingdom, PTI quoted an unidentified church official as saying.
“He was stopped at the airport without any prior notice,” the official said. “Even though the ED had conducted an inspection yesterday, they did not warn that the Bishop must not leave the country to attend the conference.”
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate had carried out raids at the Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College College, which is run by the South Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India, The Times of India reported. The agency also questioned Rasalam for 13 hours.
The case
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the college took capitation fees for admission to MBBS courses and that the deal involved black money, The Indian Express reported. According to the agency, capitation fees were kept in a separate account without receipts or bills.
Last year, the Kerala Crime Branch investigated allegations that the college did not give admission to some students despite having taken capitation fees from them.
Although the Crime Branch said in a report to the Kerala High Court that it could not find evidence against the college, the court rejected the report and told the crime branch to carry out a detailed inquiry and submit a report in six months.
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