Accomplice of bishop arrested

Chennai, June 8 (UNI) A close accomplice of disgraced bishop Yobu Saravanan, who had cheated building contractors to the tune of several crores on the promise of constructing houses for the poor, was arrested today and cash worth Rs 25 lakh were seized from him.

The CB-CID police have also freezed about Rs 1.50 crore worth property of the disgraced bishop's factotum.

Police said one Ramanathan of Perambur, a member of International Kalvari Mission run by the bishop, who had been active in collecting money on behalf of the bishop was also arrested today.

Interrogations by a special team led by DSP Chandrabose revealed that he had purchased a house for Rs 25 lakh and a land worth Rs 50 lakh at Perambur. He had also bought three acres of land at Ponneri worth Rs 40 lakh for his second wife Jessy Fathima.

Following his confessions, police recovered the cash worth Rs 25 lakh which he had given to a real estate broker in Ponneri.

It may be recalled that after arresting Yobu Saravanan and another trust member, Rajendran, on December six last year, a special unit took Saravanan into its custody. Interrogation led to the recovery of four cars, cash and jewellery.

Besides documents relating to 175 acres of land, which were seized by the CB-CID after the arrest of the duo, the special unit has now in its custody documents relating to 33 cents of land on the East Coast Road, near Puducherry and a piece of land measuring 4,400 sq ft in Vellore town.

The CB-CID had earlier seized two cars, cash totalling Rs 1.13 lakh and four television sets.

UNI