The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 12 immovable properties valued at ₹3.58 crore as part of its money-laundering probe into large-scale diversion and misappropriation of funds by Operation Mobilisation (OM India) Group of Charities that run Good Shepherd Schools across the country. The present market value of the attached assets is estimated at around ₹15 crore.
The action follows findings that tuition fees, ancillary charges, government-funded RTE reimbursements and foreign donations meant for Dalit and marginalised children were systematically siphoned off.
The investigation stems from an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Telangana CID, which uncovered a widespread organised fraud within the OM India Foundation (OMIF) and its affiliated organisations. As per the CID chargesheet, Joseph D’Souza, his son Josh Lawrence D’Souza and other office bearers diverted approximately ₹296.6 crore in foreign and domestic donations received from major international Christian charities, including the Dalit Freedom Network in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
According to the ED, OMIF received substantial foreign sponsorship funds intended specifically for the education of Dalit and other marginalised children, as well as for construction and operational costs of the schools. Searches at OM India offices and the residences of its senior functionaries led to the seizure of property documents, financial records and electronic devices. Examination of these materials revealed systemic manipulation of student sponsorship records to justify higher foreign inflows.
The ED’s probe has found that Good Shepherd Schools collected regular fees, book charges, uniform costs and transport fees from all students, including those advertised to donors as fully sponsored. The schools also received significant government aid under RTE and scholarship schemes, yet students continued to be charged full fees, while government reimbursements were diverted to OMIF head office accounts rather than being passed on to beneficiaries.
Investigators also found that between 2014–15 and 2016–17, expenses recorded for books, uniforms, ties, belts and transport were diverted to the Good Shepherd Community Society (GSCS), which undertakes religious activities.
A particularly disturbing revelation in the probe is the alleged misrepresentation of ordinary Good Shepherd School students as ‘joginis’, temple attendants subjected to sexual exploitation, in order to obtain higher sponsorship amounts from foreign donors.
Following field verification, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) division ordered the non-renewal of FCRA licences for several OM India entities and froze their accounts over violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010. Despite this, the leadership allegedly continued to channel foreign funds via the OM Books Foundation through commercial invoices related to printing, thereby bypassing FCRA restrictions.
The ED said that further investigation, including the identification of additional proceeds of crime and the roles of other individuals involved in laundering the funds, is under way.
Published – December 09, 2025 07:54 pm IST
