Indian Federal Agency initiates probe against former Protestant Bishop & office-bearers of the Church of North India

In a recent development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) released a press note dated April 28 stating, former Bishop P. C. Singh and various office bearers have been found guilty of land scam of Church of North India (Jabalpur Diocese).

In the press note, the ED stated, “involved in gross misappropriation of Church properties through sale or renting out at much lower prices by showing them as deteriorating and encroached,”

Notably these developments have been made during the probe. Bishop PC Singh allegedly committed a fraud of government land worth ₹50 crore and misused his posts during his tenure.

On September 8, last year, EOW sleuths conducted a raid at the house of Bishop PC Singh and found a huge amount of cash and other luxury items during the search. Later, another search was conducted at the CNI office in New Delhi following a complaint of alleged corruption.

A case was then registered against Singh and former assistant registrar of Firms and Societies B S Solanki under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record) and 120 B (punishment for criminal conspiracy).

Following the complaint, Singh was arrested on April 12 from his residence in Jabalpur in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh following a raid. Singh is in judicial custody and is lodged in Jabalpur central prison.

The federal agency claimed to have seized incriminating documents against Singh during multiple raids at 13 locations in India.

The ED on April 22 searched five locations connected to the CNI and Singh. The raids were conducted in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra, Indore and Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, Jalandhar in the northern state of Punjab, and Kolkata in the eastern state of West Bengal. On March 15, the federal officers raided six locations and recovered cash worth Rs 5,37,500.

Notably, after the FIR Singh was arrested by the economic offence wing (EOW) of Madhya Pradesh. The team also presented a detailed chargesheet of 8000 pages under various sections of fraud forgery and anti-corruption in December last year.

As per the chargesheet, Singh had bought the land in Mission Compound in his own name at half of the price. There were 60 cases of fraud and forgery registered against him in different states, said the chargesheet. The charge sheet also claimed that Singh had encroached upon the missionary schools after registering an organisation illegally.