Premises of Two Jalandhar Pastors Raided by Income Tax Teams

Income tax raids have been conducted at the churches and premises of two Jalandhar-based pastors in Punjab. Harpreet Deol from Khojewal village of Kapurthala and Baljinder Singh from Tajpur village in Jalandhar are the two pastors that have been accused of having foreign funding, and evading taxes, among other criminal acts.

Harpreet Deol and Baljinder Singh are Pentecostal pastors who practice miracle healing with a huge following, most of whom are from the Dalit community. They used social media to broadcast their prayers and reach people in India as well as abroad.

The 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.

Paramilitary forces were also present on guard and sealed the buildings from all sides while the raid was being carried out.

This is not the first controversy Baljinder Singh has been involved in. In July 2018, he 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.

As of now, it is unclear what was found during the raids and what action is being taken against the two pastors.

Vineet Washington