ED raids 11 offices of church

Nagpur:  The Enforcement Directorate is carrying out searches at 11 locations across India, including the Nagpur office of the Church of North India (CNI), in connection with a case registered in Bhopal, an ED official said on Wednesday. ED officials said the searches are tied to a cheating case registered against P C Singh, bishop of the CNI's Jabalpur Diocese.

The office of CNI, a Protestant denomination, located in the Sadar area in the city is being searched, an official said. In September 2022, Singh had been detained at the Nagpur airport in Maharashtra for questioning after an offence was registered against him.

Madhya Pradesh police at the time had recovered around Rs 1.6 crore in Indian and foreign currencies from the bishop's residence in Jabalpur. Singh was then in Germany. The case against Bishop Singh was registered in July 2022 after it was alleged that he had indulged in financial misconduct in running an educational society, of which he was the chairman. ED officials said an investigation showed that Rs 2.7 crore collected as students' fees by the society's various institutions between 2004-05 and 2011-12 was allegedly transferred to religious institutions, misused and spent by the bishop for personal needs. A part of the money was also transferred to CNI's Nagpur office, they said.