Father Anthony, a close aide of Kerala nun rape case accused Franco Mulakkal, was arrested by the Punjab Police after unaccounted cash was recovered from his residence in Partappura near Jalandhar, reported Mirror Now.
According to reports, the Punjab police on Friday had arrested Father Anthony and 5 others after they found Rs.9.66 crores of unauthorized cash. Father Anthony has not produced any proof accounting for the seized cash.
SSP, Khanna, Dhruv Dahiya, had stated that the money is unaccounted and no documents were there to show how it was collected. Father Anthony belongs to the Diocese of Jalandhar.
However, two days after police recovered Rs 9.66 crore in alleged ‘hawala’ money from six men, Father Anthony Madassery of Jalandhar has accused the Punjab police of misappropriation of Rs 6.65 crore. The priest also demanded that an FIR is lodged against the “erring officers” and the case is handed over to the CBI.
Father Anthony claims that the police on Friday had recovered Rs 16.65 crore, while South Indian Bank Officials who were present at the spot had counted the money using a counting machine as it was to be deposited in the bank. But the police disclosed to the media that Rs 9.66 crore has been found in my possession, thereby misappropriating an amount of over Rs 6.65 crore, he claimed.
Meanwhile, the police have rejected these allegations and called them “concocted”. Khanna police replied there was no question of misappropriation as the recovered amount had been counted by the income tax department and certificates have been issued.
Franco Mulakkal, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, is accused of raping a 44-year-old nun at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and subsequent sexual exploitations afterward. The nun had registered a complaint in June 2018 and has also claimed that despite her complaints, the church took no action on the bishop. The congregation had also stood by the rape accused and referred to him as an “innocent soul”.
Despite the initial delay in the arrest of the Bishop, Kerala police acted subsequently upon the incriminating pieces of evidence present against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Archdiocese of Jalandhar, Punjab, for allegedly raping a nun from Kerala on multiple occasions. Rape accused Bishop Franco was granted conditional bail in the case on October 15 in the case.
After his release, Bishop Franco was given a grand welcome in Jalandhar where people had arrived in large numbers. Since his release, Missionaries of Jesus has attempted to silence those four nuns for supporting the victim nun who had accused Bishop Franco of rape. the four out of the five nuns who had supported the rape survivor nun were asked to leave the Kuravilangad convent, and go to convents, previously assigned to them. Shockingly, apart from threats and intimidation, Father Kuriakose who had testified against Bishop Franco was found dead under mysterious circumstances.
