Punjab: Two Ludhiana residents booked in bid to trade century-old church in Jalandhar for ₹5 crore
The accused duo had faked their identities and referred themselves as treasurer and member of the church to the buyer.
Police have booked two Ludhiana residents for allegedly trying to sell-off Jalandhar’s century old Golaknath Memorial Church for ₹5 crore to a local resident.
According to police, the accused duo identified as Jordan Masih and Mary Willson faked their identities and referred themselves as treasurer and member of the church, respectively, to the buyer. They also received a token amount of ₹5 lakh from him in June.
As the matter came to the knowledge of the church authorities, pastor Sarwan Singh, a member of the United Church of Northern India Trust Association, who possess the power of attorney of the said church, lodged a complaint with Jalandhar deputy commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal on September 5.
The estimated price of the property, spread in about 20 kanal, is around ₹150 crore in the real estate market.
The 129-year-old church, located at mission compound in Adarsh Nagar here, was built in the memory of Bengali Brahmin Golaknath Chatterjee, who had renounced his home and led the first Indian Christian missionary in the Doaba region around 1830.
Following the complaint, the DC ordered restrictions on any sort of land registry.
Later, the matter was reported to Jalandhar commissionerate for detailed investigation and an FIR was registered under Sections of 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC Act. The IPC sections have been invoked as the ‘misappropriation’ took place before June 30. The Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) was affected from July 1.