On Thursday, the Madhya Pradesh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) conducted searches at the residential premises of the Church of North India Jabalpur Diocese’s bishop to recover crores of cash and foreign currency. The EOW also raided the office of the Church to recover documents related to the alleged misappropriation of funds.
According to the reports, a case was registered against the chairman of the Church last month. Chairman PC Singh was charged with cheating and engaging in the misappropriation of funds in running an educational society. EOW’s Superintendent of Police Devendra Singh Rajput confirmed the incident and said that several incriminating documents have also been recovered from the premises of the Church chairman.
BIG IMPACT of Pradeep Bhandari’s campaign on India News :
— Jan Ki Baat (@jankibaat1) September 8, 2022
Bishop PC Singh’s alleged role in money laundering exposed by Pradeep Bhandari now raided by EOW. Huge cash stash recovered from his residence in Jabalpur. #ChurchLandScam @pradip103@IndiaNews_itv @JMukadma pic.twitter.com/PqY71gUAeZ
“Singh is currently in Germany. His wife and son were at his residence here”, the official was quoted. It is alleged that Board of Education Church of North India (Jabalpur Diocese) chairman Bishop PC Singh forged the documents to change the original name of the educational society. He also illegally diverted student fees collected by society.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Singh had illegally transferred around Rs 2.7 crores collected as students’ fees by the society between 2004-05 and 2011-12 to religious institutions and misused the money to fulfilling his personal needs. This also comes exactly a month after Jan Ki Baat journalist Pradeep Bhandari exposed the activities of Bishop PC Singh on August 8.
‘Did Bishop PC Singh, Moderator Church of North India, illegally lease out church land? Is PC Singh the alleged kingpin of a mammoth Church land scam?’ –
— Jan Ki Baat (@jankibaat1) August 8, 2022
Pradeep Bhandari exposes exclusive and explosive details of #ChurchLandScam on @JMukadma on @IndiaNews_itv.@pradip103 pic.twitter.com/gUIXromH33
Bhandari stated that there were more than hundreds of cases filed against the Church for cheating poor people. In his report, he also mentioned that the Bishop was involved in money laundering, land scam, and corruption. Earlier, in the year 2019, it was reported that Bishop Peter Baldev of the Church of North India and his 16 other associates had illegally sold land worth Rs 10,000 crores in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, and surrounding areas.
An FIR was also registered against Bishop Peter Baldev and 16 others including P.C. Singh, P.P. Marandi, P.K. Samanto Roy, general secretary Alwin Masih, Jayant Agarwal, Pal Dupahre, P.P. Habil, Suresh Jacob, Rajiv Chand, A.R. Stephen, H.R. Mal, Marvin Masih, Prem Masih, Ashok Vishwas, Prabal Dutta, and Shashi Prakash
Reportedly, in the current case, an FIR against Bishop PC Singh and former assistant registrar of Firms and Societies BS Solanki has been registered after a preliminary investigation in the case. The duo has been booked 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).
