Jerome Jacob, a pastor with the Church of South India, had raised a complaint of embezzlement of funds to the tune of ₹25 crores against the office bearers of Coimbatore Diocese, Church of South India.
The following former and current office bearers were named in a chargesheet filed by Crime Branch of Coimbatore City Police – Bishop Timothy Ravinder (63) Former Honorary Secretary Reverend Charles Samraj (43), Former Honorary Treasurer Mr. D. Selvakumar (50) and Advisor David Mangal Dass (67). The four named in the chargesheet had applied for bail.
However, the prosecution which has already been deferred thrice as the government did not file its response has once again been adjourned by the court.
The government has claimed that police are unable to proceed with the investigation due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. They have requested another 15 days to respond with a report on the investigation conducted so far.
Justice Sakthivel has set the date for the next hearing at August 3rd. Until then, the arrest of the chargesheeted individuals has been stayed.
It is to be noted the chargesheeted individuals are in positions of high authority in an important religious institution of South India, the CSI.
The Coimbatore diocese itself runs a very large number of institutions – 13 Nursery Schools, 69 Primary and Middle Schools, 18 High and Higher Secondary Schools, 2 teacher’s training institutes, 2 Arts and Science Colleges, a Community College, 2 vocation training institutes and engineering college in the districts of Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Erode and Salem.
This comes on the wave of allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct in Christian institutions in Tamil Nadu.
(With inputs from Dinamalar)
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