The top court in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu has ordered a federal probe into allegations of illegally selling British-era Church properties worth millions in a Protestant diocese. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Nov. 22 asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the country’s top investigating agency, to probe the allegations linked to properties of the Madurai-Ram-nad diocese of the Church of South India. The court order was issued in response to a public interest petition filed by D. Devasahayam, a diocese mem-ber. The petitioner alleged that the Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA) and dio-cesan officials sold 31.10 acres of land worth over 220 million rupees (US$2.6 million) for a mere 12 million rupees. During the sale, the accused persons accepted 9 million in cash, in gross violation of the country’s existing banking norms. “There were fraudulent transactions of astronomical level,” including “illegal transfer of money,” the court’s order noted. In 1912, the ruling British colonial govern-ment gave the land to the Ameri-can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, later known as the United Church Board for World Ministries, to set up an industrial home for needy women, carry out farming, and use the income for the welfare of the inmates. The mission body continued to administer it till 1973 and later handed it over to the CSITA without changing its original purpose. The petitioner said he approached the court because the police failed to address the corruption.