Saturday, March 22, 2014 7:39:20 PM (IST) Fr K J Thomas murder: Kannada priests claim arrested are innocent Fr K J Thomas murder: Kannada priests claim arrested are innocent From Our Special Correspondent Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore Bangalore, Mar 22: A day after the police claimed credit for cracking the year-old ghastly murder of the Rector of St Peter’s Pontifical Seminary, Fr K J Thomas, and announced the arrest of three persons, including two priests, a large contingent of Kannada priests cried foul and alleged that two priests – Fr William Patrick and Fr Elias – accused of bludgeoning the 62-year-old Rector were framed” and held that they were totally innocent.” About 50 priests and a religious sister, who turned up at a hurriedly convened press conference on the very next day after the arrests under the banner of Karnataka Kannada Dharmagurugala Balaga (forum of Kannada priests) at the Bangalore Press Club on Saturday, led by the Balaga President Fr Chasara claimed that Fr William Patrick and Fr Elias are innocent” and the charges levied by the police of Karnataka are far from truth and facts.” Fr K J Thomas Holding the Archbishop of Bangalore Dr Bernard Moras, State Home Minister K J George and the former DCP Victor D’Souza responsible for hatching the conspiracy” to fix the Kannada priests, especially Fr Willian Patrick, General Secretary of the Balaga, to break the unity of the Kannada Catholic priests, Fr Chasara and other priests in their press release demanded the resignation of the Archbishop till the entire investigation is complete” and urged the State Government to order an immediate halt to our Archbishop’s foreign tour (to Rome), which is scheduled on Sunday and he should also be subjected for investigation to arrive at the truth (sic).” They also vociferously” demanded an independent and effective, impartial CBI inquiry in the present case” and vowed to continue our constitutional, democratic and legal struggles till we arrive at logical and truthful end.” The Balaga further asserted that it will move the High Court with a writ petition seeking a CBI probe into the murder case and said that it would be filed in the next three to four days. We strongly and vehemently deny the false, fabricated, conspired and framed charges against the priests,” Fr Chasara said and expressed the total displeasure and heartfelt pain about twisting and turning the brutal murder of the Rector into an instrument to put down four decades of intensive struggle by the Kannada Christians for just rights in the Archdiocese of Karnataka.” Mother, sister, brother present All the priests and the lone religious sister, who is the real sister of Fr William Patrick, who attended the press conference wearing Cassoks and religious dress, along with a few lay Kannada Catholic Sangha activists like Raphael Raj and Rita Rini, issued an unsigned press release under the Balaga name and address, declared: In this case, Fr William Patrick and Fr Elias are innocent and the charges levied by the police are from truth and facts. We vehemently refute the charges.” Fr Bartholomew, Fr Fathiraj and many other priests active in the campaign of Kannada Catholics as also Fr William Patrick’s mother, Mariamma, and brother Lourduswamy attended the press conference. The claim made by the State Director General of Police Lalrokhuma Pachau, Bangalore City Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar and Joint Commissioner Pranab Mohanty, while announcing the cracking of the high profile and sensitive” murder case and the arrests of the two priests and a layperson, Peter, and that the trio confessed to the offence” when they were subjected to detailed interrogation,” was far from truth and false,” Fr Chasara said. Archbishop, K J George, Victor D’Souza blamed Blaming the Archbishop, State Home Minister K J George and the former DCP Victor D’Souza of being part of the conspiracy to frame the Kannada fathers in the case,” Fr Chasara said: Our apprehension is that we will not get justice from our Home Minister, who is a Catholic but belonging to different linguistic community (Malayalee). Neither the Archbishop, who has always from the beginning set his foot on the local Catholics and specially the Kannada priests, nor from the investigating officer, who has conducted the investigation one-sided and nailed the local priests on the advice of the Home Minister and the Bishop, DCP Victor D’Souza will deliver justice and conduct impartial investigations with their prejudiced antecedents (sic).” Fr Chasara claimed that reports in a section of the media, quoting police sources, indicated that Fr Elias was involved in the murder for the sake of position in the Seminary. There is absolutely no connection to Fr Elias and the Seminary. He is a religious priest trained in the seminaries of OCD Order in Mangalore and Mysore. If he has to fight for position, he has to do that in these seminaries and not in St Peter’s Pontifical Seminary. Even if he (Fr Elias) or Fr William Patrick did so, there is no chance that he would be getting a position here,” he said adding: The investigating team has conducted the inquiries with little or partial knowledge about the systems of the Church institutions and therefore the investigation is highly questionable.” Right from the Vatican to the Home Minister, there was a great pressure on police to crack the case as early as possible. The Chief Minister had given a deadline to complete the investigation before March 30, Fr Chasara said and alleged that the decisions to target the local Catholics is taken from the Archbishop’s chambers. Such being the case, the innocents have been targeted with an ulterior motive of victimization.” Why the sudden haste to arrest? We come to know that the messages and exposing of the Archbishop in one of the panel discussions held in a electronic media made him implicate the Kannada priests as an act of revenge (sic),” he said wondering why the investigation that were carried out over the last 11 months without producing any result were hastily concluded in one month.” This happens to the benefit of the Archbishop, who had already turned the line of investigation, which is supported by the Home Minister. The police, who said they had no sufficient clues to conclude investigation, all of a sudden, comes out with circumstantial evidences and loose statements as grounds to arrest innocent persons,” he said. He also questioned how the police top brass awarded the investigating officers with cash prizes even before the completion of investigation at the behest of some unknown persons” and said the exercise looks like a mockery of the system.” Rita Rini, Editor of Mathukate Kannada magazine, joined Fr Chasara in demanding that those guilty of murdering Fr K J Thomas, who was never against Kannada, must be identified and punished and even hanged, argued that innocent priests should not be foisted with false charges. Both claimed that none of the trio of Fr William Patrick, Fr Elias or Peter were subjected to polygraph or brain mapping tests and narco-analysis and were suddenly selected as the soft targets. They asked why the Procurator, Fr Patrick Xavier, who was staying in the neighbouring room of the deceased Fr K J Thomas and had been subjected to polygraph and narco tests and sustained interrogation since the murder, had been left out. Shimoga Bishop’s appointment linked While Mariamma, mother of Fr William Patrick, claimed that her son was totally innocent” and had not committed any crime, except espousing the cause of Kannada Catholics and priests, if it was crime. Fr William Patrick’s brother, Lourduswamy, claimed that he was summoned to the Yeshwanthpur police station at 5.30 pm on Friday, when his brother was brought in a police jeep, and both of us were asked to sign documents, the copies of which were not given to either of us. “ Fr William Patrick was produced before the First City Additional Judge Kalmadi at his residence at 9.30 pm on Friday and was told to tell the judge that he was arrested at 5.30 pm and has now been remanded to police custody for 7 days. Fr Chasara also claimed that the Archbishop had selected 42 priests of the Archdiocese for a foreign tour in two batches, which included Fr William Patrick, and each of the chosen priests were given Rs 1 lakh. But Fr William Patrick was suddenly recalled from his tour and taken by the police into custody. This is a warning to Kannada priests and their associations. Within 2 days, Fr Francis Serrao (Karnataka Provincial of Jesuits), a Mangalorean Konkani speaking priest, has been named the Bishop of Shimoga. The arrests of the Kannada priests coming soon after the appointment precedes Archbishop’s visit to Rome, he claimed.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 09:52:39 +0000
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