In the latest development of the IT raids carried out in various cities of Punjab, the Income Tax team is probing the donations and funds received by accused pastors. Raids were carried out at the multiple residences of two pastors i.e. Bajinder Singh along with Harpreet Singh Deol. According to the sources, churches of these pastors were getting international funding for religious conversion because of which raids are being carried out.
Reportedly, about 70 officers along with paramilitary force reached residence of Bajinder Singh and initiated the IT raid early in morning on Tuesday. Apart from this, a team also raided the house of Pastor Harpreet.The raiding team included the same people from the Jalandhar Income Tax Department who also raided the British Sikh School on the previous day. This school is just opposite to Khojewal Church. The Income Tax raids took place in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Amritsar and Mohali. Sources revealed that Income Tax department received some reports of connection of money transactions with foreign countries for religious conversion. Post getting some inputs on the same, IT carried out raids in various cities of Punjab.
As per information, during raid the IT officials sealed around 20 donation boxes and documents. There are chances that the raid might continue on Wednesday as well. The Khojewal church is being constructed for the last 3 years and people claim that it is the biggest church in Punjab till date. It is being operated by a group of 35 different pastors from India. The church receives a lot of donation from India as well as abroad because of which the matter is under investigation.
For the unversed, pastor Bajinder was accused of rape in 2018 by Zirakpur woman. The woman was accused Bajinder of raping her in the name of taking her to abroad.