Paul Dhinakaran, the well-known evangelist in Tamil Nadu, is in the news because the Income Tax department on Wednesday morning launched raids at 28 of his premises in Chennai and Coimbatore, among others. As per early reports, the sleuths came swooping down in connection with complaints of tax evasion.

At least one news report says that the IT department is also looking into alleged irregularities with respect to foreign funds. The sleuths have conducted searches at the Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences (HQ is in Coimbatore) as well as Dhinakaran's Jesus Calls ministry (HQ is in Chennai).

The evangelist allegedly is no stranger to political utterances. In a 2016 article, a columnist writing for Swarajya Mag commented that Dhinakaran and the likes are known to pray for the victory of specific political parties or divine retribution against a specific party.

Dhinakaran's late father DGS Dhinakaran, too, was a preacher.