CSI Church row: one injured as protesters, police clash

March taken out demanding resignation of Bishop Rasalam

CSI South Kerala Diocese Action Council members stage a protest near the Martyrs’ Column in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday demanding the resignation of Bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam. | Photo Credit: S. MAHINSHA

A section of members of the South Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India (CSI), who took out a protest march on Sunday against CSI Moderator and South Kerala Diocese Bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam demanding his resignation, clashed with the police at Nandavanam, leaving one person injured.

Santhosh S.L., a participant of the march taken out by the CSI South Kerala Diocese Action Council, was hospitalised with head injuries, the action council leaders said. They alleged that he was injured in the police action.

Forty-three protesters were detained at the Armed Reserve Police Camp at Nandavanam and six others at the Museum police station following the incident. They were later let off on station bail, P.S. Dharmajith, station house officer, Museum police station, said.

Money-laundering case

The action council had taken out the march demanding the resignations of Bishop Rasalam, diocese administrative secretary T. T. Praveen and Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College director Bennet Abraham who are facing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into a money-laundering case connected to Church-run institutions.

Reportedly, the police had denied permission for the march citing law-and-order issues. But the action council leaders claimed that they had obtained permission from the City Police Commissioner to take out the march via Museum and LMS Junction to Palayam where a protest meeting was planned.

The march began around 3.30 p.m. The police blocked it near the Museum police station and diverted it via Nandavanam where the protesters clashed with the police. Subsequently, the protesters assembled at the Martyrs' Column for the meeting. They blocked the road demanding the release of persons detained by the police.

Police action flayed

Jnanadas Karichal, vice president of the action council, strongly condemned the police action. ''We do not have any politics. Our members include people affiliated to the Communist party as well as the Congress. The Bishop has no right to continue in the post. He should step down. Democratically elected committees should be established for Church administration,'' he said.

On July 25, the Enforcement Directorate had raided the office of Bishop Rasalam, the medical college at Karakkonam and the residences of Mr. Praveen and Dr. Abraham, in connection with the alleged money-laundering scam linked to the medical college and other Church-run institutions. The Bishop was stopped from leaving the country by emigration officials at the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

The Museum police are likely to register a case of unlawful assembly and rioting in connection with Sunday's incident.