A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court will consider an appeal filed by Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, in a land deal case on Friday.
The court posted the case for Friday as the Cardinal sought time for appearance of his counsel, a Supreme Court lawyer.
The Cardinal approached the Division Bench challenging a single judge’s order to register an FIR against him and three others in connection with a series of land deals that reportedly resulted in financial losses for the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.
He contended that the property transactions of the archdiocese were not in conflict with applicable laws of the land or the canon law. The Cardinal submitted that the single judge did not adhere to the rules framed by the High Court regarding the writ petitions.
The petition was disposed of without issuing any notice to the respondents and serving a copy of the writ petition, he submitted.
FIR submitted
The police team investigating case submitted a First Information Report before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on Tuesday.
The FIR named Cardinal, and Fr. Joshy Puthuva, pro vicar, St. John’s Church, Cusat-Kochi parish, Fr. Sebastian Vadakkumpadam, pro vicar general, Archbishop’s House, Ernakulam, and Saju Varghese, a real estate agent based in Kochi, as accused in the case.
As per the case, the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy and sold 301.76 cents owned by the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, which caused huge financial loss to the church. The properties were sold for ₹13,51,44,260 as against ₹27,15,84,000, a price fixed by the archdiocese earlier.
Ernakulam Central Circle Inspector Ananthalal is heading the investigation.
As part of investigation, the police on Tuesday recorded the statement of Shine Varghese, the complainant, after summoning him to the station on Tuesday.
