Last week, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) found a foreign network using U.S.-based debit cards to fund religious activities in the country’s tribal areas.

ED investigators claimed that nearly INR 950 million ($10 million) entered India through ATM withdrawals made with foreign debit cards during the six months from November 2025 to April 2026. Part of the funds were allegedly used for Christian missionary-linked operations in tribal dominated states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

The probe has focused on two districts in Chhattisgarh, Bastar and Dhamtari, where the agency said nearly INR 65 million ($685,000) was spent on religious outreach and associated activities by people linked to The Timothy Initiative (TTI), with extensive digital financial trails and suspected regulatory violations.

TTI is a global evangelical ministry focused on multiplying churches and developing leaders through a disciple-making model based on 2 Timothy 2:2.

According to ED officials, TTI is not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), yet foreign funds were allegedly used to support on-the-ground operations. Officials are now examining whether this constituted a direct violation of India’s foreign funding and anti-money laundering laws, media reports have said.

Truist Bank, based in the U.S., allegedly issued the debit cards. They were found in the possession of a foreign national who was detained after entering the country via Bangalore International Airport in southern India.

The foreign national, “Jose Bell,” was intercepted by immigration authorities and searched following a lookout circular issued by ED after money laundering investigations into unusual cash transactions using foreign debit cards in India traced them to him.

During the search, the immigration authorities recovered 24 foreign debit cards from Bell’s possession.

ED investigators suspect these cards were used to withdraw large amounts of cash from ATMs across India in a structured manner to avoid scrutiny and bypass formal financial reporting systems. The money was channeled to local organizations and people associated with TTI operations.

The ED has now linked the funding of the missionary activities to India’s national security because the money was spent in the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand — areas where the government is trying to curb armed militancy perpetrated by left-wing extremists.

In a statement, the ED has categorically said, “Such emergence of a parallel cash-based economy in left-wing extremism-affected areas poses a serious threat to security and financial integrity of India and can facilitate the movement of illicit funds for unlawful activities.”

The ED is a premier economic intelligence and law enforcement agency in India, functioning under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It investigates money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws, including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.

The agency has sweeping powers, with a primary mandate to combat money laundering, enforce foreign exchange regulations, and pursue fugitive economic offenders.

ED said its search raids on April 18 and 19 covered six locations across the country. During the raids, officials tracked repeated ATM withdrawals allegedly made using the foreign debit cards.

The agency also found an online billing and accounting platform used to record these cash withdrawals.

During the raids, the ED seized INR 4 million ($42,000) in cash, electronic devices, and digital records. Investigators also collected documents that may help establish the financial chain, beneficiary network, and end use of funds.

According to media reports, officials indicated that the case may involve a larger, organized money-laundering structure with interstate and international links. The agency is also examining the roles of intermediaries, local facilitators, and financial handlers connected to TTI’s network.

Officials are assessing whether the funds were used solely for religious expansion or whether broader local influence operations were attached to them.

The ED probe has also raised questions about the monitoring of foreign-linked religious funding in conflict-prone districts, and the matter is likely to figure in wider government updates and internal security reviews.

*Names have been changed for security purposes

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