Black Money: ED raids Church of South India premises

Thiruvananthapuram: In a probe into the alleged black money scam, the Enforcement Directorate conducted a raid on multiple properties of the Church of South India, including its headquarters. The scam was related to receiving capitation fees for admission to a medical college belonging to the church, The Indian Express reported.

The church runs the Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College at Karakonam, which had accepted a capitation fee and black money was allegedly involved in the deal. The raided premises include the residences of CSI South Kerala Bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam, medical college director Dr Bennet Abraham and CSI church secretary Praveen. Bennet Abraham had contested as a Left candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, there were allegations against the CSI church that the capitation fee it gathered from students was accumulated in a separate account without receipts or bills. In 2018, the medical college sunk in controversy after 11 students produced fake community certificates during admissions.

In 2021, the Kerala Police initiated an investigation on an allegation that students who paid capitation fees were not admitted to the college. When Crime Branch submitted a report before the court that no evidence was found which prove the allegation, the court rejected the report.