The Metropolitan Bishop of Believers Eastern Church Athanasius Yohan (formerly known as K P Yohannan ) died at a hospital in the United States on Wednesday after he had been seriously injured in a car accident. In an official statement, the Church announced that the prelate passed away due to a sudden cardiac arrest at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he was undergoing treatment after the accident.
The Church statement read; "With profound grief and sorrow, we would like to inform you that His Holiness Athanasius Yohan 1, our honourable Metropolitan, reposed in the Lord this evening, the 8th of May 2024." Further details will be announced by the Synod, it added. Yohannan and his Church have been under the scanner of the Income Tax Department for the last few years in connection with the alleged diversion of a charity fund, reportedly to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore, for real estate and other business purposes.Yohan had sustained multiple injuries including a head injury, in an accident that took place at 6.45 am (US local time) on May 7 when the bishop was on his morning walk along a county road. The impact of the accident was severe and it caused fractures to ribs, and injuries to the lungs resulting in internal bleeding. He was subjected to an emergency surgery at the hospital.
According to Church officials, it was not a hit-and-run case and prima facie there is nothing suspicious. The local police have recovered the vehicle involved in the mishap and registered a case in this connection.Yohan was airlifted to a Dalla hospital soon after the accident. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Cabinet colleagues mourned the death of Bishop Yohan.The 74-year-old Bishop was born in 1950 in a Mar Thoma Syrian Church family in the Upper Kuttanad village of Niranom. In 1993 he founded the Believers Eastern Church as part of the Gospel for Asia (GFA) World Apostolate and was consecrated its bishop in 2003. Yohannan and his Church have been under the scanner of the Income Tax Department for the last few years in connection with the alleged diversion of a charity fund, reportedly to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore, for real estate and other business purposes.