The CBI on Tuesday carried out searches at premises of social activist Teesta Setalvad and her organisation in connection with a case of alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in receiving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the >Home Ministry .
The CBI sleuths carried out searches at four places in Mumbai at the premises of Ms. Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, Gulam Mohammed Peshimam and office of Sabrang Communications and Publishing, a move flayed by the social activist who said that she was cooperating with the CBI.
“We are surprised and shocked at this,” Ms. >Setalvad said, adding, “We have been offering full cooperation.”
The CBI had registered a case on July 8 against all these under IPC Section related to criminal conspiracy (120-B) along with provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976.
“We had written a letter to CBI offering full cooperation and telling the agency that whatever so-called offences are registered against us, we will cooperate. So we don’t understand the rationale behind this entire operation,” Ms. Setalvad.
“We believe that it is a caged-parrot in operation and it is a political vendetta and they are trying to humiliate and intimidate us,” she said.
The CBI sources said in New Delhi that the case was registered after the agency completed verification of all the documents submitted by the Home Ministry while referring the probe to the agency.
