‘The Charity industry is booming in kerala since the last two decades.’
Religious affiliations and trappings are just traps for the the gulliable.
Hindus, Christians, Muslims, they are all there.
Bhadranandas, Yohannans, and Thangals, take your choice.
Godman tries to kill self in police station
On Friday, H A Bhadran alias Himaval Maheshwara Bhadrananda — upset about media reports that he had threatened journalists and used a red beacon atop his car — had surrendered before police after a complaint was filed against him.
But on Saturday, he called up newspaper offices and announced he was going to commit suicide. Before he could act out on his threat, police brought him to Aluva station.
Bhadran refused to hand over his pistol and got into a spat with the media present there. As he waved the gun around, it went off twice, injuring his fingers.
He was arrested and shifted to a hospital, where Bhadran sobbed that he was being victimised.
Police are inquiring about the pistol licence, which was apparently granted by the district SDM. Meanwhile, the political scene in the state also heated up over dewasom minister G Sudhakaran’s statement on Friday that saints were like “thieves” and “frauds”.
Hindu groups lashed out at the minister, saying it revealed the CPM’s hidden agenda to shatter symbols of sanatana dharma.
BJP state president P K Krishnadas too attacked the CPM saying the party was hobnobbing with fake godmen and insulting genuine believers.
Kerala bishop’s trust in legal trouble
Ananthakrishnan G | TNN
Thiruvananthapuram: Bishop K P Yohannan, a popular evangelist in Kerala, is in trouble with the law. A preliminary inquiry by the intelligence department of Kerala police casts doubts on how a trust he runs spent a massive Rs 900 crore of donations from abroad.
The trust, according to reports, received Rs 1044 crore since 1995 from Texas-based Gospel for Asia apparently for charitable purposes but had spent only Rs 144 crore towards this purpose. No satisfactory explanation was given on how the rest of the amount was spent, police said.
The matter is now pending with the state home department which is said to be considering a detailed probe. Any inquiry would necessitate central assistance as it involves money from abroad which falls in the purview of the Reserve Bank of India.
Yohannan is the founder president of the Gospel for Asia and the Believer’s Church, both of which enjoy huge assets bases. What has raised eyebrows is that most of the trusts floated by Yohannan has on its board his family members. The trust, sources claimed, had recently purchased 40 acres of paddy fields in Pathanathitta district and filled it up to evade the Land Reforms Act.
Also under the lens is a land transaction worth Rs 130 crore said to have been undertaken by the trust some months back. The Church, however, denied the charges and claimed that its working was transparent.