Chargesheet filed against four in Church forgery case

The police on Friday filed the chargesheet at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kakkanad, against the four accused in a case relating to the alleged forgery of bank documents to de fame Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church.

Fr. Tony Kallookkaran, former secretary to Mar Alencherry, is the first accused. Fr. Paul Thelakkat, senior priest, figured as the second accused. Fr. Benny John Maramparambil is the third accused and Aditya Z. Valavi, an IT engineer, is the fourth accused.

Money transfer

The police said the forged documents were created by Mr. Aditya from his computer kept at his father’s hardware shop. It was stated that he forged the documents and emailed them to Fr. Thelakkat on the directive of Fr. Kallookkaran. The allegation was that the accused placed them before the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church with an intention to defame the cardinal, the Church, and its institutions.

The fake documents that included details about money transfer of ₹16 lakh from the account of Mar Alencherry to a hotel chain company were created by the fourth accused on September 21, 2016. He created another fake document claiming that the cardinal had made investment in the company. The police stated that the documents were created on various dates starting August 20, 2018. The investigations revealed that Mar Alencherry did not have bank accounts in the private bank as mentioned in the forged documents.