Bishop Anthony Swamy Thomasappa of Chikmagalur denies the allegations. (Photo supplied)
A court in southern India's Karnataka state has summoned a Catholic bishop and a priest on charges of conspiring to sell some prime plots of diocesan land.
Chikkamagaluru District Court ordered Bishop Anthony Swamy Thomasappa of Chikmagalur (former name of the district) and his former vicar general Father Shantha Raj to appear before it on Sept. 24 on charges of criminal breach of trust and conspiracy.
Michael Sadanda Baptist, a Catholic who filed the complaint, told UCA News on Sept. 1 that both the accused conspired to take ownership of two church-owned plots of land worth 180 million rupees (US$2.4 million) and sell them off at a cheaper value.
The diocese’s legal adviser V.T. Thomas said the case stems from ethnic rivalry and the allegations aim to tarnish the bishop and the priest, who are ethnic Kannadigas.
Those who complained against them come from the dominant Konkani Catholics in the diocese, he said.
The complainant is “misleading the court with forged documents to get the summons issued against the bishop and the priest. We have already filed a revision of the petition challenging the summons,” Thomas told UCA News on Sept. 1.
Baptist's complaint accused the bishop and priest of a criminal breach of trust and conspiracy among other charges
Bishop Thomasappa earlier told UCA News that there was a proposal to sell the land and a buyer was identified and an advance of 400,000 rupees was transferred. But the deal was called off when diocesan officials learned that the deal undervalued the property.
Thomas said the advance payment was returned and the deal was canceled. "No deal was struck and no crime was committed,” he said.
Following complaints, the district court in August 2019 ordered the police to probe the allegations that the accused conspired to sell prime land owned by St. Joseph Education Society, a trust that works under Chikmagalur Diocese.
The deal was canceled after five members of the society’s governing council objected, Baptist maintained in the complaint.
The police in January 2021 gave a clean chit to the accused, forcing Baptist to move court challenging the police probe and to submit documents in support of his allegations.
The court in its Aug. 16 order said statements made before it and documents produced by the complainant are “prima facie material" to proceed in the case.
Baptist's complaint accused the bishop and priest of a criminal breach of trust and conspiracy among other charges.
My action was purely to save the Church's land from being misused or sold
Legal adviser Thomas said Bishop Thomasappa and Father Raj come from the Kannada-speaking Catholic community while the rest of the governing council's members, including the five priests, are from the Konkani-speaking community. They have been targeted because of their ethnicity, he said.
Baptist, however, denied any ethnic angle to his complaint. “My action was purely to save the Church's land from being misused or sold,” he told UCA News.
The local Church has three main factions — migrant Tamil-speaking Catholics from neighboring Tamil Nadu, Catholics who speak Kannada, the state’s official language, and Konkani-speaking Catholics from the southwestern coast of the state.
The diocese has previously witnessed confrontations between the groups, leading to splits in the Catholic community.
Share your comments
