CBI books US-based Christian mission over FCRA violation | India News

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case to investigate the violation of foreign contribution regulation act (FCRA) by the US-based global Christian mission, The Timothy Initiative (TTI), in connection with the alleged illegal use of foreign debit cards to withdraw cash worth crores of rupees in certain Naxal-affected regions, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) wrote to CBI in July seeking a probe in the matter.FIR lists several accusedIn its first information report (FIR) filed on August 27, CBI has named several functionaries of TTI, including Jonathan S Rajan (overall operations head), Micah Mark, the key financial operative, who was caught on April 24 at Kempegowda airport while carrying 24 debit cards, Ajit Verghese Mathai, finance head, and three field functionaries — Bablu Kurmi, Supreme Joy, Varghese Chako, unknown individuals and the organisation itself as accused.They have been charged for violating sections pertaining to receiving and use of foreign funds under the FCRA, criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Information Technology Act.Also Read I ₹92.55 crore FCRA violations">CBI probes US Christian mission Timothy over alleged ₹92.55 crore FCRA violationsCBI has alleged in the FIR, seen by HT, that the accused, as part of a conspiracy, “coordinated and withdrew foreign funds through various ATMs across India using foreign debit cards, issued by Truist Bank of USA”.Funds worth around ₹92.55 crore (USD 99,95,240), in contravention of legal provisions of FCRA, were withdrawn from November 2025 to April 2026, it added.“Further, funds amounting to approx ₹44 crore were withdrawn using foreign debit cards across multiple states such as Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam etc, from January 2024 to March 2026,” CBI said.Timothy Initiative comes under fireTTI is not registered in India under FCRA — foreign funding law that allows receiving funds from abroad and utilising them. Its website leads to a message that says, “Country blocked. Access to this page is forbidden”. Officials said the weblink became inaccessible in India and the cloud-based data maintained by the company in the US was remotely deleted from the back-end servers soon after the agency conducted the searches.ED had raided the organisation and its office bearers in April under the foreign exchange management act (FEMA) during which it found the irregularities. The agency had alleged that these foreign funds were moved for Naxal influence. The Karnataka High Court, while rejecting a plea of TTI office bearers, ruled that “one of the gravest threats to national security in the present times is the clandestine funding of extremism…”.The FIR further alleged that Mark had made multiple foreign trips and returned with foreign debit cards. “Mark is a key person in the financial operations of TTI in India. Over 1,000 such debit cards have been distributed in India over the past few years,” it said.“Training, preaching and brainwashing”After ED raids in April this year, TTI Global portal became inaccessible for India. “Further, the data, which is maintained on cloud, as well as in the seized laptop has been deleted from the back-end through remote access of the servers and laptop, which are maintained by TTI, USA”.Rajan and Mathai, CBI claims, ensured the funds withdrawn from ATMs to be used for the activities of TTI across India which includes “training, preaching and brainwashing of poor people leading to left wing extremism, among others”.Also Read I CBI books Arunachal anti-dam activist Bhanu Tatak over FCRA violations“He (Rajan) oversees the training organised by TTI, the selection of individuals who conduct such training, and the identification of venues. As operations head, he sends fund requirements to the finance team, which in turn arranges illegal funding from TTI, USA through the foreign debit cards in question. Chacko, Joy and Kurmi are field-level functionaries, who have withdrawn funds in cash using the foreign debit cards at multiple ATMs and used the same for advancing the purposes of TTI,” the FIR mentioned.