India

India’s Supreme Court revived a criminal case over a Church of South India sale in Ananthapuramu, where records approved one acre and a bungalow but the deed allegedly conveyed all 7.75 acres.

Madhya Pradesh officials ordered the attachment of land gifted in 1887 to Indore Christian College, valued at $43.65 million, claiming misuse after the college sought to build shops, and the college went to court.

Mumbai Catholics sent a legal notice to their archbishop over property at St Stephen’s Church valued at about US$11.2 million, arguing church leaders are only trustees, while the archdiocese said it was seeking bids to redevelop adjacent land.

India’s Madras High Court ordered a federal investigation into claims that Church of South India officials sold 31.10 acres valued at over 220 million rupees for 12 million rupees, land first granted to a mission in 1912.

At least 121 churches and church buildings of 15 denominations were destroyed in Manipur’s 2023 violence, which killed more than 70 people and displaced 30,000, as the Imphal archbishop appealed for aid.

The Vatican took day-to-day control of Kerala’s Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese from Cardinal George Alencherry after a disputed sale of three acres in Kochi, for which the church received Rs 9.13 crore against claims the land was worth Rs 80 crore.