CBI books US missionary group over Rs 92-cr FCRA case, alleges use of funds to ‘brainwash’ poor people

The CBI has booked TTI and six India-based employees after the ED alleged foreign funds were used without FCRA compliance and that its activities included ‘brainwashing’ poor people.

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a US-based Christian missionary group and its six India-based employees for violation the rules for utilisation of foreign funds and utilising funds amounting to Rs 92.55 crore by using foreign debit cards withdrawals in different parts of the country.

The FIR has been filed under provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and criminal conspiracy against The Timothy Initiative (TTI), and its employees—Jonathan S Rajan, Micah Mark, Ajit Verghese, Mathai, Verghese Chacko, Bablu Kurmi and Supreme Joy.

The development comes months after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had intercepted Micah Mark, who has since been identified as a key member of TTI’s operations in India with 24 debit cards—all issued in the name of Santosh Kumar and issued by the Truist Bank of USA.

The ED submitted its investigation report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which recommended a probe by the CBI under the FCRA provisions.

“Funds amounting to Rs 92.55 crore (USD 99,95,240) have been utilised in contravention of legal provisions in the last 6 months, from November 2025 to April 2026, for missionary activities. On further analysis of seized records it was observed that Rs 44 crore approx have been withdrawn using foreign debit cards across multiple states like Karnataka, Chandigarh, Assam, etc., during the period January 2024 to March 2026,” MHA said in its recommendation to the CBI, based on ED’s investigation report.

In its communication to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the ED also flagged the scale of alleged illegal flow and disbursement of funds stating that around 1,000 foreign debit cards were found to be in circulation and used by the TTI employees and its networks of intermediaries.

Such conduct, the MHA said in its recommendation, violates the establishment rules under both the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act.

“It is noteworthy that past the search action, TTI Global portal (www.ttiglobal.orn) also became inaccessible for India. Further, the data, which is maintained on cloud, has been deleted from the backend through remote access to the servers which are maintained by TTI, USA. This amounts to the destruction of evidence during ongoing search proceedings,” the agency further alleged.

The ED has identified the duo of Ajit Vergbese Mathai and Jonathan Rajan as the overall finance head of TTI’s operations and overall operation-in-charge of TTI in India respectively.

“The search at the premises of Jonathan Rajan revealed that he is the overall operation in-charge of TTI in India. In conspiracy with Ajit Verghese Mathai and others, he has ensured that the funds withdrawn from ATMs are used for the activities of TTI across India which includes training, preaching and brainwashing of poor people leading to left-wing extremism, among others,” MHA said in its recommendation to the CBI.

“He oversees the training organised by TTI, the selection of persons who conduct such training, and the identification of venues. As operations head, he sends fund requirements to the finance team, which in turn arranges funding from TTI, USA through the foreign debit cards in question,” the MHA added.

The ED has further identified the trio of Varghese Chacko, Supreme Joy and Bablu Kurmi as field level functionaries associated with TTI in India who allegedly withdrew funds in cash using the foreign debit cards at multiple ATMs and used them for advancing the purposes of TTI.

“The above facts indicate that Jonathan Rajan, Micah Mark, Ajit Verghese Mithai, Varghese Chacko, Bablu Kurmi, Supreme Joy, The Timothy Initiative and others in criminal conspiracy with TTI, USA have, through an elaborate scheme used foreign debit cards issued by a USA based bank to withdraw foreign-source fund in cash through Indian ATMs; caused the said cards to be printed in a single false name (Santosh Kumar) in breach of KYC norms; circulated more than a thousand such cards amongst persons who are not the account-holders; thereby caused foreign funding of approx Rs 92.55 crore to be received and utilised in India for church related and missionary activities without FCRA registration/prior permission and without being routed through the designated FCRA Account; and on interception of Micah Mark, remotely destroyed the digital backend record of the scheme,” MHA concluded in its recommendation to the CBI.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)