The Income Tax (I-T) department has carried out raids on controversial Christian Missionaries. Officials visited several premises linked to pastor Bajinder Singh from Jalandhar. IT officials also carried out raids at Pastor Harpreet Deol’s premises. Harpreet hails from Kapurthala.
IT sleuths conducted parallel raids in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Amritsar, New Chandigarh, Mohali, Kurali, among others places. They seized documents pertaining to properties and bank accounts.
As per reports, the two pastors have been operating churches promising to heal patients suffering from diseases. Agencies suspect that they have been receiving huge funding from foreign nations.
Bajinder became christian in Jail
Bajinder, who runs the Church of Glory and Wisdom in Jalandhar’s Tajpur village, has around 15 branches, including eight in Punjab and others in Canada, the USA, the UK, Dubai, Bihar, Mumbai and Kolkata. He has over 2 million followers on YouTube. He comes from a Jat family in Haryana.
Reports say he embraced Christianity nearly ten years ago when he was in a jail in a murder case. He later became a self-styled preacher in 2012. Since then, he has been practising ‘miracle healing’ and claiming to cure fatal diseases, paralysis and other ailments through prayers at Tajpur.
While Deol, who operates the Open Door Church at Khojewala village, comes from a Jatt Sikh family. The Church also has several branches.
Sikhs, Hindus converted: Akal Takht
Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had earlier said that some so-called Christian Missionaries are targeting Sikhs and Hindus from Backward Classes and converting them into Christians through foreign fundings.
Other than Bajinder and Harpreet, there are several others which have opened Christian shops in Punjab. Their numbers are increasing like never before. In such places, large congregations take place from time to time. A large number of people attend these mass gatherings.
There have been allegations that Hindus and Sikhs are “baptised” in huge numbers. They fall prey to fraudulent claims of miracle cures by Bajinder for cancer, AIDS, kidney failure, heart failure and people’s sufferings. Unemployment and childlessness related problems are also said to be cured here.
