Mangalore, March 21, 2013
Former Church of South India (CSI) bishop Devaraj Bangera has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment by second additional chief judicial magistrate Bhavya for forgery of documents.
Devaraj Bangera was accused of forging documents pertaining to his age to remain as bishop for one more year by claiming that he was born on June 29, 1945 instead of his actual year of birth which is 1944. Damodar Bangera had produced birth certificate from Kasaragod municipality to prove his claim and Protestant Christian Association had claimed that the certificate was forged. The association had filed a RTI which revealed that Bangera’s date of birth as per the records of Udupi Christian College School clearly show that his date of birth as 1944.
Uday claimed that the former bishop had purposely forged his age documents because CSI norms say that a Bishop has to superannuate from his post on turning 65.
In this regard a case was filed on November 30, 2008 in Mangalore east police station by the leader of the Protestant Christian Association Udaychandra Kausdasa of Bajai. Apart from forgery there were also charges of financial irregularities including selling CSI property to a foreign company. /ENN
