JABALPUR: The Madhya Pradesh Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Monday arrested P C Singh, bishop of the Church of North India's Jabalpur Diocese, in a cheating case registered against him, a senior officer said.
His arrest was confirmed to PTI by EOW's Superintendent of Police Devendra Singh Rajput in the evening.
Earlier in the day, Singh was detained from the Nagpur airport in Maharashtra for questioning, Rajput said.
Last Thursday, the EOW claimed to have recovered around Rs 1.60 crore in Indian and foreign currencies from bishop Singh's residence in Jabalpur during searches following the registration of the cheating case against Singh, who was then in Germany.
The EOW took the help of various agencies, including the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), to monitor movements of Singh upon his return from abroad.
"Bishop Singh was taken into custody from the Nagpur Airport for interrogation in connection with the cheating case registered against him," Rajput had said.
The case was registered against Bishop Singh last month after a complaint alleged financial misconduct by him as the chairman of an educational society, the officer said.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Rs 2.70 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, an EOW official earlier said.
Bishop Singh and former assistant registrar of Firms and Societies, B S Solanki, were booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record) and 120 B (punishment for criminal conspiracy).
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said it will be investigated whether the money was being used for religious conversion or any other illegal activity.