In a major success for the extensive reporting by OpIndia into the illegal activities of the US-based Christian missionary group The Timothy Initiative (TTI), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR over alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The Timothy Initiative received Rs 92.55 crore between November 2025 and April 2026, and used the funds for illegal Christian conversion activities.
The CBI has booked TTI’s India operations head Jonathan Rajan, India financial head Ajit Varghese Mathai, Micah Mark, Varghese Chacko, and TTI.
While news of CBI’s action against the Timothy Initiative and its operatives in India has surfaced in public now, the FIR was registered on 27th August 2026.
OpIndia has accessed the FIR copy, which makes startling revelations about the alleged flouting of the FCRA rules by The Timothy Initiative and its workers in India.
The Timothy Initiative and its officials in India conspired to use Rs 92.55 crore foreign funds for illegal activities in India
The FIR states that Jonathan S Rajan, Micah Mark, Ajit Verghese, Mathal, Verghese Chacko, Bablu Kurmi, Supreme Joy and others hatched a criminal conspiracy with The Timothy Initiative (TTI). The accused coordinated and withdrew foreign funds up to Rs 92.55 crore through various ATMs across India using foreign debit cards, issued by Truist Bank of the USA.
In addition to this, Rs 44 crore was withdrawn using foreign debit cards in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam and other states, between January 2024 and March 2026.
“Funds amounting to Rs. 92.55 crore approx. (USD 99,95,240) in contravention of legal provisions of FCRA, 2010 from November 2025 to April 2026. Further, funds amounting to approx. Rs. 44 crores have been withdrawn using foreign debit cards across multiple states i.e. Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam etc., during the period from January 2024 to March 2026,” the FIR states.
1000s of Truist Bank of USA debit cards distributed across India since 2024
Further, the CBI FIR states that when Micah Mark was intercepted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on 18th April 2026, they found 24 foreign debit cards of Truist Bank of USA in his possession. These cards were printed in the name of one Santosh Kumar, on the instructions of accused Ajit Varghese Mathai, to dodge suspicion by law enforcement agencies.
The CBI stated that this act was in violation of the Know Your Customer (KYC) norm to hide the real user and use fraudulent means to evade the law.
“It Is further alleged that, when Micah Mark was intercepted by Directorate of Enforcement at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru on 18/04/2026, he was found to be in possession of 24 foreign debit cards of Truist Bank and the said cards (24 Nos.) were printed under a single false name, Santosh Kumar. The same was carried out on the instructions of Ajit Verghese Mathal so as to avoid suspicion by LEAs and In violations of the KYC norms to conceal the real user, thereby forging the real identity and using fraudulent means to evade the law,” the FIR reads.
Further investigation revealed that accused Micah Mark made multiple such foreign trips and has returned with foreign debit cards. The CBI described Micah Mark as a “key person in the financial operations of TTI In India.”
The authorities have also alleged that over 1000 such debit cards have been distributed in India over the past few years.
In addition, after an investigation was launched into the illegal activities of The Timothy Initiative, the TTI Global portal (www.ttlglobal.org) became inaccessible in India.
Moreover, all the data stored on the cloud servers and the laptops seized by the police was deleted from the back-end through remote access to the servers and laptops, which are maintained by TTI, USA.
The incident report filed earlier gives details about how, when the authorities conducted search operations at the residence of Micah Mark on 18th June 2026, online financial portals Bill.com and QuickBooks.com and an HP laptop were being used for accounting purposes related to the withdrawal and utilisation of funds using foreign debit cards across India by functionaries of TTI, India, among others.
However, within hours, the investigators noted a significant change in access permissions across all the above systems in a “coordinated manner”.
“Access to Bill.com was restricted, whereby data pertaining to India was no longer accessible, while access relating to other regions remained available. In addition, the HP laptop was found to be completely wiped out at 13:30 hours on 18.04.2026, preventing further login or use of the system altogether,” the Incident Report stated.
TTI’s activities included pumping illegal funding into India for training, preaching and brainwashing of poor people to fuel Left Wing Extremism (LWE)
The probe agency also alleged that Jonathan Rajan was the overall “operation-in-charge” of TTI in India. Rajan colluded with Ajit Verghese Mathai and others to ensure that the funds withdrawn from ATMs are used for the activities of TTI across India, which include training, preaching and brainwashing of poor people leading to left-wing extremism, among others.
As the FIR, Jonathan Rajan oversees the training organised by The Timothy Initiative, the selection of persons who conduct such trainings, and the identification of venues. As operations head, Rajan sends fund requirements to the finance team, which in turn arrange illegal funding from TTI, USA through the foreign debit cards in question.
About the role of Varghese Chacko, Supreme Joy and Bablu Kurmi, the FIR states that they are field-level functionaries who withdrew funds in cash using the illegal foreign debit cards at multiple ATMs and thereafter, these funds were utilised for Christian proselytisation activities and for promoting Left Wing Extremism.
The Timothy Initiative, the CBI FIR states, did not comply with the mandatory conditions prescribed under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
It has, thus, been alleged that the accused persons committed offences punishable under sections 8,11,17, 35 of FCRA, 2010, under section 61 r/w 238 of BNS 2023, under sections 65, 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
“The above-mentioned acts/ omissions disclose, prima facie, commission of offences punishable under sections 8,11,17, 35 of FCRA, 2010, under section 61 r/w 238 of BNS 2023, under sections 65, 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 by the accused persons. In terms of the provisions of section 43 of FCRA, 2010 and the Govt, of India notification No, S.O. 2446 (E) dated 27th October, 2011, the authorization of the competent authority i.e. Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt, of India, New Delhi to investigate the matter is enclosed with the FIR,” the FIR reads.
OpIndia reported extensively about The Timothy Initiative and how it was blatantly violating Indian laws to pursue its Christian conversion agenda
In past few months, OpIndia has published an extensive series covering the history, agenda, activities, their footprint in India, and the alleged FCRA violations.
The criminal case against US-based Christian missionary group The Timothy Initiative and its members originated from an investigation initiated by the Enforcement Directorate under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). According to the investigating agency, Micah Mark is the key person handling TTI’s financial operations in India.
As reported earlier, Mark was intercepted at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on 18th April 2026. Upon being searched, he was found carrying 24 foreign debit cards issued by Truist Bank in the United States. The ED informed the court that all 24 cards were printed in the name of “Santosh Kumar”, a common name in India. Earlier cards were reportedly issued using regional descriptions such as “NE-1”, “NE-2” and “Southern Region-1”.
The ED stated that the common name was deliberately used to conceal the identities of the actual users and was intended to bypass Know Your Customer requirements and prevent law enforcement agencies from tracing the cards to the individuals operating them.
The probe agency said more than 1,000 such debit cards had been distributed across India over several years. The cards were used by TTI functionaries to withdraw foreign funds from Indian ATMs in repeated transactions, usually amounting to Rs 10,000 each.
The ED’s preliminary examination had found that around Rs 92.55 crore, equivalent to approximately USD 9.99 million, was utilised in India between November 2025 and April 2026 through this mechanism. It further found that approximately Rs 44 crore was withdrawn using foreign debit cards across Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam and other states between January 2024 and March 2026.
The ED particularly flagged withdrawals in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected Dhamtari and Bastar regions of Chhattisgarh. It said around Rs 6.34 crore was withdrawn in these regions over the past few years.
Of this, approximately Rs 3.2 crore was withdrawn through 3,200 transactions of Rs 10,000 each from a single AU Small Finance Bank ATM located at Vijay Plaza on Bastar Road in Dhamtari. The withdrawals were made using two foreign debit cards. The ED said such systematic cash withdrawals had taken place under the supervision of Varghese Chacko.
The Enforcement Directorate uncovered a parallel cash-based financial network in Naxal-affected areas, which posed “a serious threat to the security and financial integrity of India” and could facilitate the movement of illicit funds for unlawful activities.
In its complaint to the Karnataka Police, ED had said that shortly after its search operation, TTI’s global portal became inaccessible to users in India. The data maintained on cloud servers was also made inaccessible.
In June 2026, the Karnataka High Court dismissed petitions seeking the quashing of a criminal case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against The Timothy Initiative and its six Indian operatives.
What OpIndia investigation found about The Timothy Initiative
During the OpIndia investigation, we uncovered how The Timothy Initiative built its India network, how foreign churches supported its activities and how funds from abroad were directed into India even as the US-based organisation did not have an FCRA approval, which was the core of the ED’s investigation.
The TTI began as “Project India” in 2009 and was later rebranded as TTI in 2009. Its founder, David Nelms, had first come to India in 1992, and the organisation later developed a structured church-planting model focused on India and other countries.
The TTI’s model was constructed around creating groups of local religious workers, describing them as Pauls, Timothys and Tituses. The model projected low-cost house churches, with each unit requiring only a few hundred dollars to plant.
The Timothy Initiative’s India-centric operations were not standalone; rather, the missionary group remains connected with a massive ecosystem of foreign churches, including Kensington Church, Mission Grove Church, Northwest Baptist Church, Wooddale Church, Rise City Church, Mission Hills Church, First Presbyterian Church of Hanford, Springbrook Community Church, the Baptist General Conference of Canada, Liberty Church Network, All Access International, Saltbox Church and Woodside Bible Church.
Most of these churches are situated in the US and Canada. These churches primarily focus on church planting, pastor training, field visits and funding targets. The TTI’s own training and operational material demonstrated how the organisation trained local workers to enter Hindu-dominated villages, approach Hindus, avoid suspicion, use local social structures and identify caste leaders for outreach, with the ultimate goal of converting more and more non-Christians to Christianity.
OpIndia repeatedly pressed that the case of The Timothy Initiative was a lot more than FCRA and FEMA violations, and pertains to national security. Now, the CBI has taken the fight against foreign entities operating with the agenda of altering India’s religious demographics and fueling left-wing terrorism, a step further.
