NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against US-based Christian missionary organisation The Timothy Initiative and six people linked to it over alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), officials said on Wednesday.
The case was registered on a complaint from the Union Home Ministry, which was based on a separate inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
According to the FIR, the organisation allegedly spent Rs 92.55 crore in foreign funds on missionary activities between November 2025 and April 2026 without the required FCRA clearances.
The CBI also alleged that Rs 44 crore was withdrawn between January 2024 and March 2026 using foreign debit cards issued by US lender Truist Bank in Karnataka, Assam and Chandigarh.
The FIR names Jonathan S. Rajan, head of the organisation's India operations, finance head Ajit Verghese Mathai, Micah Mark, and field staff Varghese Chacko, Supreme Joy and Bablu Kurmi.
The agency alleged that Rajan directed cash withdrawn from ATMs towards the organisation's activities across India, including training, preaching and the "brainwashing" of poor people, leading to left-wing extremism.
Earlier, the ED said it had stopped Micah Mark at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport on April 18 while he was carrying 24 Truist debit cards. The agency alleged that searches at his residence showed repeated foreign trips during which he brought such cards into India.
“It was further revealed that the said cards (24 Nos.) were printed only in the name of Santosh Kumar, being a very generic name in India (earlier cards were being issued in the name of regions i.e. NE-1, NE-2, Southern Region-I etc.) on the instructions of Ajit Verghese Mathai so as to avoid suspicion and LEAs (law enforcement agencies) and in violation of the KYC norms to conceal the real user, thereby forging the real identity and using fraudulent means to evade the law,” the ED alleged.
The ED had earlier alleged that more than 1,000 such debit cards had been distributed in India in recent years.
The FIR also alleged that after the ED searches, The Timothy Initiative's website became inaccessible in India and that data stored on the cloud and on a seized laptop was deleted through remote access from servers maintained in the US.
According to the CBI, The Timothy Initiative qualifies as a "foreign source" under the FCRA, and the receipt and use of the funds were allegedly carried out without complying with Sections 8, 11 and 17 of the FCRA, 2010.
