Bengaluru, Jul 1 The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking to quash a case registered against five people under the stringent UAPA in a case against persons related to US based Christian missionary organisation, The Timothy Initiative.
The charges relate to withdrawal of close to Rs 100 crores allegedly to fund left wing extremists (Maoists) in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
Based on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate, the Kothanur police registered cases against Jonathan Sushil Rajan (50), Micah Mark (43) and Ajit Verghese Mathai (55), all three from Bengaluru, Supreme Joy (34) from Mysuru, Varghese Chako (58) from Dhamtari in Chhattisgarh, and Bablu Kurmi (35) from Goalpara in Assam.
While dismissing the petition filed by Micah Mark that seeks to quash the FIR under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Justice M Nagaprasanna said this is not a case warranting exercise of inherent jurisdiction to nip the crime in the bud.
Noting that the case concerns national security, the Judge observed, “One of the gravest threats to national security in the present times is the clandestine funding of extremism. Funding, therefore, becomes the oxygen that enables extremist movements to survive and proliferate.”
The danger of extremist financing lies not merely in the money transferred, but in the consequences it unleashes, he said.
The bench added that if the clandestine funding of extremism is left unchecked, then it can transform ideological extremism into organised violence, threatening National unity and public safety.
“The preservation of national security, therefore, demands robust vigilance against financial channels that sustain extremism."
Effective intelligence gathering, strict regulatory oversight, inter-agency coordination, and rigorous enforcement of antimoney laundering, he pointed out.
Justice Nagaprasanna further said institutions tasked with financial monitoring and security enforcement must act with both precision and urgency to dismantle these covert networks.
Protecting national security is thus a collective constitutional obligation, and preventing the funding of extremism forms an indispensable part of that solemn duty, he observed.
The judge said that the Courts must be circumspect in stifling investigation, particularly where allegations touch upon issues of economic subversion intertwined with national security.
“In the teeth of such accusations as observed hereinabove, investigation is not merely permissible - it becomes imperative. For the aforesaid reasons, the petitions merit dismissal. Accordingly, stand dismissed,” the court said.
The ED alleged in its complaint to the Kothanur police on June 11 that searches conducted on April 18 and 19 under provisions of the Income Tax Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act revealed that the accused, in association with TTI, used foreign-origin debit cards issued by a US bank to withdraw and utilise foreign funds across India.
The agency alleged that approximately Rs 92.55 crore (USD 99,95,240) was utilised illegally during the six-month period from November 2025 to April 2026 in violation of FEMA and FCRA provisions.
According to the FIR, Micah Mark was detained at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport on April 18 and was allegedly found in possession of 24 foreign debit cards.
More than 1,000 such cards had been distributed across India, many carrying the common name ‘Santosh Kumar’ while using regional identifiers such as “NE-1”, “NE-2” and “Southern Region-1”.
The ED further alleged that suspicious cash withdrawals were detected in LWE-affected regions of Chhattisgarh. The FIR states that approximately Rs 6.34 crore is estimated to have been withdrawn in areas including Dhamtari and Bastar over the past few years.
