Supreme Court stays trial in money laundering case linked to Karakonam medical college admission scam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has recently stayed the trial court proceedings in the money laundering case filed against the former Church of South India (CSI) Bishop in the money laundering charges filed against him in the Karakonam CSI Medical College corruption case.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued this direction while considering the petition filed by Bishop seeking to quash the money laundering case.

The Court issued notice in the matter, returnable in four weeks, and clarified that the trial court proceedings shall remain stayed in the meantime.

"Issue notice returnable in four weeks. In the meantime trial court proceedings shall remain stayed," ordered the top court bench.

The Karakonam Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College Hospital, one of the first four private medical colleges in Kerala, is owned by the South Kerala Medical Mission (SKMM) of the South Kerala Diocese (SKD), part of the Church of South India (CSI). Located approximately 35 kilometres south of Trivandrum City, the institution has been at the centre of a significant scandal.

Also Read: MBBS Seat Fraud at Karakonam Medical College: ED files chargesheet

It was alleged that the Bishop and others collected more than Rs 7.22 crore from the parents of 28 aspiring medical students by offering admission to Karakonam CSI Medical College. However, the church refused to compensate all affected individuals, and a significant portion of the funds was reportedly diverted to other church projects.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that initially, the Kerala Police Crime Branch investigated the case but exempted top church officials when filing their chargesheet. This led the defrauded parents to approach the Kerala High Court, which subsequently directed the ED to take over the investigation from the Vellarada police, Thiruvananthapuram.

Last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a comprehensive chargesheet revealing the laundering of crores of black money in the pretext of arranging MBBS seats involving the former CSI (Church of South India) Bishop of the Karakonam Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College Hospital. He had been arrayed as the second accused by the ED, and the matter is before the Special Court dealing with PMLA cases.

The Kerala High Court on March 24 refused to quash the chargesheet filed by ED and dismissed Rasalam's petition. Consequently, Rasalam approached the Supreme Court.

As per the latest media report by Live Law, during the hearing of the case, Justice Nath asked, "Why should the Bishop do all these things?"

The counsel for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Dr. S Muralidhar, submitted that there is no case at all. He also submitted that there were closure reports on each of the predicate offences.