ED stops Kerala bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam from escaping abroad

Thiruvananthapuram: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday stopped CSI South Kerala diocese Bishop A. Dharmaraj Rasalam from escaping to the UK.

He was stopped by the immigration airport officials just before his scheduled flight to the island nation. Soon, the ED officials arrived and redirected him not to leave the country.

He was served a notice asking him to appear before the ED officials at Kochi on Wednesday.

This comes a day after the ED raided the CSI headquarters, which houses the office of Church supreme leader Bishop, following allegations of corruption at the Church-run medical college at Karakonam.

Notwithstanding the central agency’s direction of staying put in the country, the bishop was attempting to escape.

Simultaneous raids were carried out at the headquarters of the Church and the residences of Church’s secretary T.T.Praveen and Dr Bennet Abraham- medical director of CSI Medical College, Karakonam, near here on Monday morning.

Abraham rose to prominence after the Communist Party of India (CPI) pitted him against Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. However, he finished a poor third.

The raids apparently followed complaints about black money coming to the Church following admissions to the Church-run medical college at Karakonam.

Numerous complaints have been registered at two police stations in the capital district. Recently, a court also put the bishop and the others who head the Church in a tight spot in a corruption case.

(IANS)