E-Paper
Day after losing bail, former Jalandhar bishop Mulakkal tests positive for Covid-19
District health department nodal officer Dr TP Singh Sandhu confirmed that Mulakkal was found infected with the virus in a TrueNat test that records results faster than the RT-PCR test
A day after a Kerala court cancelled the bail plea of former Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping a nun, he tested positive for Covid-19 here on Tuesday. District health department nodal officer Dr TP Singh Sandhu confirmed that Mulakkal was found infected with the virus in a TrueNat test that records results faster than the RT-PCR test. Mulakkal’s public relations officer Father Peter Kavumpuram claimed that the former bishop’s health “was not so good”.
Fr Kavumpuram said Mulakkal had met his lawyer Mandeep Singh Sachdeva on June 29 and 30. When the lawyer tested positive on July 2 and his daughters on July 5, the names of his contacts were listed. Mulakkal too was called for a check up, but tested negative on July 6 and was in home quarantine since. On July 12 night, he developed some symptoms and was taken to the civil hospital. Mulakkal has now tested positive for the virus, he said.
On Monday, a special court in Kottayam that is hearing the nun rape case cancelled Mulakkal’s bail and issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him. The court posted the case for hearing on August 13.
The case surfaced in 2018 after a 43-year-old nun had complained to the police in Kottayam that Mulakkal had raped her several times between 2014 and 2016. The nun is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation based in Punjab.
But Mulakkal denied the allegations saying he was implicated after he took action against her for financial irregularities in the convent. Later, a special investigation team was formed and it arrested him in September 2018. After spending 40 days in jail, he was granted bail. He was later removed from the post of the bishop.
