Kerala High Court rejects CSI Bishop's plea to quash PMLA Case

The Kerala High Court recently dismissed a plea by CSI South Kerala Diocese Bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam seeking to quash the money laundering case against him in connection with the alleged irregularities in admissions to Dr Somervel Memorial CSI Medical College [A Dharmaraj Rasalam v Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement]. .Justice VG Arun rejected Rasalam's request to quash the proceedings against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case involving ₹95.25 lakh and upheld the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) claim that the allegations warrant further scrutiny..Bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam is the second accused in the case which revolves around the allegations that Dr Somervel Memorial CSI Medical College officials, under the direction of the Bishop, collected large sums of money from parents of aspiring medical students in 2019 under the pretext of providing admissions to MBBS and postgraduate courses but failed to deliver on these promises.Based on these allegations, the State Crime Branch initiated investigations, and submitted a final report before the Judicial First-Class Magistrate, Neyyatinkara.This report concluded that the complaints were false and malicious, intended to pressure the college authorities into expediting refunds, and further stated that there was no evidence implicating the petitioner in any criminal act.However, the Kerala High Court quashed the crime branch's report, following which the ED took over the investigation and and later filed a complaint before the Special PMLA Court in Ernakulam, arraigning the Bishop as the second accused.Aggrieved, Bishop Rasalam moved the High Court contending that the ED's action was arbitrary and illegal..The petitioner argued that the State Crime Branch had absolved him of any wrongdoing through its final report, thus there was no basis for the ED to continue proceedings under the PMLA.Additionally, since the predicate offences under Sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code were dropped against him, the PMLA case could not proceed..The Court, however, dismissed the plea, allowing the ED to proceed with the prosecution of the petitioner under the PMLA..Bishop A Dharmaraj Rasalam was represented by advocates Mariya Rajan, Shinu J Pillai, S Suja, Ann Mariya John and Felix Samson Varghese.Standing counsel Jaishankar V Nair appeared for ED..[Read Order]