Illegal sand mining: Theft, conspiracy and forgery charges against Kerala Bishop Irenios
PATHANAMTHITTA /TIRUNELVELI: Bishop Samuel Mar Irenios, head of Syro Malankara diocese, Pathanamthitta, who is in judicial remand in Tirunelveli has been charged with offences including theft, criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and using forged documents dishonestly in the case pertaining to illegal river sand mining from Thamirabarani river near Pottal in Ambasamudram.
The IPC Sections 120 (B), 379, 420, 465, and 471 have been charged along with Section 21 of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 against the bishop and five other priests of the diocese by the Tamil Nadu crime branch. As per the clause concerned in MMDRA, illegal sand mining and trade of illegally mined sand are offences that may attract imprisonment up to five years and fine that may be up to `5 lakh per hectare.
The gravity of the charges, most of which are non-bailable, prompted the judicial first class magistrate court and principal sessions court to deny bail to Mar Irenios and others. In both courts, prosecution opposed the bail plea, citing that custodial interrogation of all priests who were suspected to have links with the leasing of the 300-acre land adjacent to a check dam in Pottal, South Kallidaikurichi Village, Ambasamudram, to Manuel George, a native of Kottayam. The MoU of leasing the land to Manuel was signed by Fr George Samuel, on behalf of Bishop Irenios on August 17, 2019. Manuel possessed a licence for producing M-Sand, but proceeded to mine river sand and transport hundreds of truck loads of sand for more than a year.
Advocate P Senthilkumar who represented the priests argued that they had no idea of the illegal activities happening at the diocese-owned land as it was in the custody of Manuel from the day the MoU was signed.It was the Kallidakurichy police which first registered a criminal case against Manuel in 2020. Later, Madurai Bench of the Chennai High Court ordered the case to be transferred to CBCID as a group of local residents alleged that a probe by local police was not satisfactory.
Objecting to the bail, the public prosecutor argued that the investigation was only at the preliminary stage and there were financial transactions between Manuel and several others during the period. “It is an offence only through transactions. The transaction may be in direct or through benami which has to be investigated,” the judgment quoted the argument of the prosecutor.
When the petitioners said Manuel, the first accused, had been granted bail, the court observed, “The co-accused released on bail will not be a main criterion to demand bail”. Bishop Irenios and Cor Episcopa Jose Chamakala had moved a separate bail petition on medical grounds. Representing them, advocate P Mohan argued that both patients were cancer patients. A scan report of Bishop Irenios and a medical report from Pushpagiri hospital to prove that Fr Chamakala was under treatment there were submitted as evidence.
However, the court found that the medical records were not sufficient to prove that petitioners were ‘very sick’. The prosecution’s argument that they were being provided with the best available treatment at Government Medical College Hospital, Tirunelveli, was accepted by the court.