Contempt citation handed down by court in Indian church corruption trial: The Church of England Newspaper, April 1, 2011 p 8.

Bishop Vasanthakumar

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Karnataka high court has issued a contempt notice to the Bangalore police after they failed to carry out a judge’s order to investigate fraud and corruption charges leveled against the Moderator of the Church of South India (CSI).

On Dec 9, Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar asked the police to complete their investigations “as soon as possible, but not later than the outer limit of two months” into a criminal compaling filed against the CSI Moderator, Bishop Suputhrappa Vasanthakumar, his wife Nirmala, daughter Aparna, and personal secretary Patricia Job.

On April 30, 2010 Mr. I Sounder Raj, a member of St. Peter’s parish in Kolar Gold Fields filed a complaint in the Bangalore magistrate’s court alleging the bishop and his wife had embezzled diocesan funds.  The thefts had been on-going since April 2002, Mr. Raj said, and involved theft, forgery, fraud, and the sale of admissions to church schools.

Prosecutors told the court last year that the police had investigated similar accusations lodged against Bishop Vasanthakumar and had filed a ‘B’ report—a police form that states a case could not be made against the accused.

The Raj complaint, however, was brought after the B report was filed, attorneys told the court.  Judge Shantanagoudar ordered the police to complete their review of the case and report their findings by the end of February.  The police have so far declined to act on the judge’s order, prompting the contempt notice from the court.