A 'Bunty Babli' or 'Natwarlal' like incident has come to the fore in Punjab after a man from Ludhiana attempted to sell a 135-year-old church in Jalandhar. As per reports, the accused also took about Rs 5 crore in exchange for getting the land for the church. A complaint has been lodged with the Commissionerate Police regarding this. Meanwhile, Jalandhar DC Himanshu Aggarwal barred the said registry and ordered an investigation into the matter.
As per reports, Jordan Masih, a resident of Isa Nagar, Ludhiana, had deposited Rs 5 crore and made a deal for the 135-year-old Golaknath Church located in Mission Compound, Jalandhar. The registration of the land of the church was to be done two days later. But before that, the officials of the United Church of North India Trust came to know about this fraud.
Trust Secretary Amit K. Prakash was quoted saying, "Last Tuesday he came to know that the historic Golaknath Church located in Adarsh Nagar, Jalandhar was going to be registered in two days. He got a copy of the statement of Rs 5 crore taken for more than 24 kanals of church land. It was revealed that Jordan Masih, a resident of Isa Nagar, Ludhiana, had made a deal for the church with Baba Dutt, a resident of Ladowali Road, Jalandhar."
Therefore, he immediately came to Jalandhar and told the entire matter to Tehsildar-1 Maninder Singh and stopped the registration of the church land. Amit Prakash further said that Jordan Masih had committed this fraud by forming a fake trust in the name of the United Church of North India Trust. In the statement, he has even written the Khasra number of the church land. At present, only two persons named Jordan Masih and Baba Dutt have been found involved in this fraud.
After the disclosure of the case, it is being told that Jordan Masih had tried to sell the church land in Saharanpur two years ago. A case was registered against him there. He and his associates were also arrested. According to the trust officials, he was on bail in that case.
Golak Nath Chruch Jalandhar
For the unversed, Golaknath Chatterjee was not a resident of Punjab. He was originally from Bengal. Despite being from a Brahmin community, he was influenced by Christianity and started propagating it. Four years after his death, in 1895, this church was built and named after him. Devotees from all over the state come to pay their obeisance in this church, which is counted among the historical buildings of the district. This church was inaugurated by Charles Beatty Newton.