The Kerala High Court on Monday harshly criticised the State Government for the police’s reluctance to initiate a case over the land scam that has pushed the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church into a deep crisis due to the alleged involvement of Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Major Archdiocese.

While considering a petition filed by one Shine Varghese of Cherthala, Alappuzha seeking investigation into the land scam, Justice B Kemal Pasha came down heavily on the Government and police asking why the latter had failed to register an FIR even after getting a complaint and being convinced that there were discrepancies in the land deal.

Pointing out that the police were supposed to initiate a case by registering an FIR whenever there was a complaint, the judge asked why this did not happen in the case of the land deal related to the Church. This was a violation of Supreme Court guidelines and could lead to contempt of court proceedings against the concerned police official, the court said.

The Government counsel tried to justify the police by arguing that this was a civil case which did not warrant interference by the police but the court criticized this position as well. It pointed out that this could not be considered as a civil case as the involvement of alleged financial irregularities and tax evasion gave it the nature of a criminal case.

The controversy pertains to the sale of over three acres of prime land belonging to the Archdiocese in Kochi city worth tens of crores of rupees to private persons. The lands were sold in two schedules to 36 persons in September, 2016 and between January and August last year and Cardinal Alencherry himself had signed in all the sale documents.

The Archdiocese had suffered huge financial losses through the land sale for which a middleman had been engaged. Cardinal Mar Alencherry has also been accused of taking the initiative to bring in the middleman, Saju Varghese Kunnel.

The scam has already caused wide cracks in the mighty Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church with several senior priests and a section of the laity coming out openly against the Cardinal. A laity forum has petitioned the Pope asking The Vatican to take stringent action against the Cardinal.

On Monday, middleman Saju Varghese sought to wash his hands off the scam by submitting in the court that he had handed over the money from the land sale to the Church through bank transfer and that he had nothing to do with the issue anymore. He said the Cardinal and other Church dignitaries had acknowledged receipt of the amount.

The middleman also claimed that he had documents to prove the transfer of money to the Church’s account. However, the Archdiocese informed the court that it had not received the money from Saju Varghese, prompting the court to cite the need of investigation find out where the money had gone.

The court also rejected Saju Varghese’s plea to allow the case to be settled through mediation. When he argued that the issue concerned 20 lakh believers of the Church, the court responded by saying that the Church authorities should have remembered that. Arguments on the petition would continue in the court and verdict might be pronounced on Tuesday.

The Church had decided to sell its prime land for Rs 27 crore – it could have fetched a much bigger price – but it was sold for Rs 13 crore as per the sale documents. However, it is said that the amount that had reached the Church’s account was only Rs 9.30 crore. The lands were sold in order to repay a bank loan availed for buying land for a now-aborted medical college project.