Thiruvananthapuram: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting a raid at MM CSI Church in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. According to the reports, the raid is in connection with a scam case of Karakonam medical college. There were allegations of admission irregularities against the management of the medical college. The Church-run medical college has been allegedly taking huge amounts of money on the pretext of offering admission.
In 2020, the HC pulled up the crime branch for failure to arrest the accused in the case of alleged admissions irregularities at the Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College at Karakonam in Thiruvanathapuram.
The Kerala High Court, in July 2020, cancelled the admission of 11 MBBS students who got admission to the college by submitting fake community certificates issued by Bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam.
While considering a report filed by the crime branch on the investigation conducted, in 2020, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan had asked whether the investigating officer is afraid to arrest the bishop and others who are alleged to be involved in the scam at Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College. The court asked the crime branch, ”Why have bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam and other key accused not been arrested? Is the investigating officer afraid to arrest them?”, ANI had reported.
However, the prosecution had submitted that they were questioned and let off and there is no need to arrest them at present. The court then asked why prosecution is opposing the bail plea of the fourth accused if there is no need to arrest the accused. What is the urgency in the case of the other accused that is absent in the case of the main accused, the court had asked.
The case was registered on the allegation that capitation fee upwards of Rs 50 lakh was collected for MD and MBBS seats and then admissions were not given. In addition to the bishop, other key accused include Bennet Abraham, who had contested 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency as a CPI-backed candidate. The fourth accused, who is an accountant at the college and is accused of receiving the capitation fees, had contended in the bail plea that she was questioned four times by the investigating team.
