Income Tax Raids on Jalandhar-based Pastors’ Properties Ends, Rs. 2 Crore Cash Confiscated

The income tax raids on several premises owned and operated by two Jalandhar-based pastors have ended and Rs. 2 crores in unaccounted cash has been confiscated. The two pastors engaged in miracle healing and amassed a huge number of followers mostly from the Dalit community.

Harpreet Deol from Khojewal village of Kapurthala and Baljinder Singh from Tajpur village in Jalandhar are the two pastors that have been accused. Income Tax teams from Bathinda, Amritsar, Jammu, and Haryana had some information about the two pastors being involved in violations in the transfer of funds, huge foreign funding, and evasion of taxes. They conducted raids on multiple properties connected with the two in New Chandigarh, Amritsar, and Kurali. These locations included the popular The Open Door Church in Kapurthala, among others. The raids have now been concluded and Rs. 2 crores in unaccounted cash has been confiscated from these properties.

Along with the cash, the officials also recovered property documents and other assets. They were also looking into the donations received by the two churches in Kapurthala and Jalandhar. “We have sought documentary evidences of any charity work being done by them, the overall use of donations that they have been collecting and the setting up of offshore centres in Dubai, Mauritius and other places,” according to one of the officials supervising the raid.

Both Harpreet Deol and Baljinder Singh had set up international lines for prayers and were organizing sermons and events on regular basis in India and abroad. Deol ran The Open Door Church in Kapurthala and Singh set up The Church of Glory and Wisdom in Jalandhar.

Back in July of 2018, Baljinder Singh was arrested in a rape case in Zirakpur from the airport as he was about to leave for London. Additionally, a family from Delhi alleged that the pastor took money from them for offering prayers to treat their daughter who was fighting cancer. They said that the pastor failed as the daughter passed away. Reports also suggested that Singh converted to Christianity about a decade ago while in jail for a murder case.

Vineet Washington