WABASHA, Minn. — A Wabasha priest has hired Rochester attorney, Thomas Braun, about being investigated on suspicion of extorting money from parishioners. Braun acknowledged he had a spreadsheet of bank accounts maintained by Father Prince Raja, whose full name is Prince Amala Jesuraja Jebamlia Selvaraj. The spreadsheet lists deposits by Raja from parishioners and whether they had been repaid or were gifts or donations. The spreadsheet also includes a check to Father Prince from the Winona-Rochester Diocese apparently to repay what he had taken. In all, the spreadsheet suggests Raja took $72,000 from parishioners. The spreadsheet showed that $5,500 was repaid to parishioners and $7,000 was gifted to him “for things that the money was not actually used for.” The Diocese also located $19,000 from a family when he was at a Wisconsin parish in another Diocese between 2019 and 2024. The Diocese of Rochester-Winona did not respond immediately to news queries to explain the spreadsheet entries for its payments to Father Raja.
