Bishop arrested on charges of cheating contractors

Chennai, Aug 5 (UNI) Police have arrested a Bishop on charges of cheating contractors in Southern States to the tune of several crore of rupees.

Acting on information that Bishop Anandaraj (45), who had gone underground for the last one year, would be passing through the East Coast Road, a special police team headed by Mamallapuram Inspector Sakthivel, intercepted his vehicle and arrested him on the night of August three.

He was later remanded in judicial custody yesterday.

''As per my records he had cheated builders to the tune of Rs two crore. We have registered two cases against him here.

There were complaints from various builders from different states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala'', Mr Sakthivel told UNI.

The amount he had cheated might run into several crore, police sources said.

The Bishop, who was running a church at Perur village on the ECR road, advertised in a newspaper that he would construct about 10,000 houses for poor people. The response was quite tremendous, as the builders made a beeline to him and made deposits to him.

He had also told them that he would get funds from abroad for constructing the houses. As the construction in various places neared completion, the Bishop gave 'fake' cheques to the builders and went underground.

Investigations revealed that the Bishop had amassed wealth in his name and in the name of his family members by using the funds given by the contractors.

A group of contractors headed by one Sivakumar from Kerala, who had given Rs 50 lakh to the Bishop for the housing project, monitored his movement and got definite information that he was passing through the ECR, leading to his arrest.

Police are also on the look out for more than ten people, including his family members and his personal assistant, for their alleged involvement in the fraud.

UNI GV SK HT1605