The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against an Under Secretary of the Home Ministry for allegedly issuing FCRA notices arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gains. The case was slapped against Under Secretary Anand Joshi and some other unnamed persons for allegedly indulging in corrupt practices and arbitrarily issuing notices to many NGOs, registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), which were receiving foreign contributions.
The accused allegedly accepted bribe from some organisations through immovable assets and certain private firms, official sources said. Searches were carried out at four locations of the accused official, they said.
The issue came to the fore after files pertaining to the alleged FCRA violations by two NGOs run by social activist Teesta Setalvad went missing from the Home Ministry. The files were traced and restored in the FCRA division but the CBI was asked to probe the matter.
It was noticed that the files had gone missing when the Ministry took a decision to cancel FCRA registration of one of Setalvad’s NGOs, Sabrang Trust, sources said. Sabrang Trust’s licence was suspended on September 9, 2015, by MHA.