Pastor Paul Dhinakaran has been summoned by the Income Tax Department after seizing 5 kilograms of gold and ₹120 crore unaccounted investments.
Income Tax department had conducted raids in the premises of the Christian Pastor and Chancellor of Karunya University, Paul Dhinakaran. Intense search operations were conducted day and night for the last 3 days at 10 places owned by Paul Dhinakaran, including in Karunya University, Coimbatore. The searches in Coimbatore came to an end last night.
Documents and evidence seized from other premises in Coimbatore were brought together at Karunya University for auditing. It was reported that 5 kilograms of gold was seized from a guest house at Karunya University.
They also found that ₹120 crores investments have not been accounted. Following this, Pastor Paul Dinakaran has been summoned by the Income Tax Department to appear for trial in Chennai next week, who is currently said to be not in India.
The Income Tax department descended down on the properties of Christian evangelist Paul Dhinakaran’s ‘Jesus Calls’ at Chennai, Coimbatore and other locations in Tamil Nadu. They also raided the Karuna Christian School which is affiliated to Jesus Calls.
The raids began on Wednesday (January 20) morning to check whether the organization was involved in evading tax based on complaints of tax evasion and foreign funding irregularities.
Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), a legal activists collective had earlier complained to the Income Tax department to probe Paul Dhinakaran’s immovable assets located all over the country and internationally.
The complaint had shed light on the anomalies in the Annual Returns filed and the contributions received by various NGOs operated by Paul Dhinakaran.
Paul Dhinakaran, son of D.G.S Dhinakaran, is a Christian pastor and heads the Jesus Calls missionary organization founded by his father. He is also the Chancellor of Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences located in Coimbatore district.