KOCHI: Cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Archbishop George Alencherry on Sunday refused to comment on the alleged conspiracy to defame him, after a person was arrested and remanded to judicial custody for forging bank documents in his name.
"Let the police and the court decide, if there was a conspiracy behind the fake documents. I am not going to come to any conclusions now," said the Cardinal.
The case relates to alleged forging of documents for bank transactions by a group of priests and the laity to defame Alencherry.
The police team investigating the case questioned a few Catholic priests and based on their statements picked one Aditiyan on Saturday and recorded his arrest on Sunday. Aditiyan has been remanded to judicial custody till May 31.
According to the probe team, after Aditiyan's questioning it became clear that there was a conspiracy to tarnish the Cardinal's image.
Aditiyan is understood to have prepared the fake documents after a group of priests assured him of his safety. The police have recovered from him, the computer used to create fake documents.
Two priests, who had earlier given statements, will soon be asked to appear before the probe team.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Cardinal has got a legal relief. Last year, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court quashed an FIR against him and three others in an alleged land scam case.