A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to former Home Ministry Under-Secretary (FCRA) Anand Joshi in a corruption case.
However, the court imposed a stiff condition: “He shall give his own mobile number and those of his wife and children to the investigating officer of the case and shall not use any other mobile phone for any communications during the investigation.’’
The court warned him that violation of the conditions would result in immediate cancellation of his bail. However, it also observed that “he cannot be kept in jail for an indefinite period. The CBI arrested him on May 15 for arbitrarily issuing notices to NGOs registered under the FCRA and allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from some of them.
Files recovered from house
Mr. Joshi, who was arrested from west Delhi on May 15, was presently under judicial custody.
The CBI had earlier claimed that files relating to several NGOs had gone missing from the Home Ministry and they were recovered from his house although he was not supposed to take them away.
The CBI had alleged that Mr. Joshi had been issuing notices dishonestly to a large number of NGOs/societies registered under the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) 2010, which have been receiving significant amount of foreign contributions, in an arbitrary manner.
The CBI had said some of these organisations were Care India, Snehalya Charitable Trust, Indian HIV/AIDS Alliance and All India Primary Teachers Federation and alleged that representatives of some of these organisations were called and Mr. Joshi had demanded and obtained illegal gratification.
Mr. Joshi was arrested after he allegedly gave unconvincing answers to the questions posed by a team of Special Crime division of the CBI, including those related to disappearance of files on Sabrang Trust of activist Teesta Setalvad.
Mr. Joshi, who had disappeared from his home in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, was picked up from Tilak Nagar area of West Delhi and taken to CBI headquarters for questioning.
Subsequently, he was arrested by the agency.
Mr. Joshi has rejected the charge and instead accused his seniors of pressuring him to give clean chit to NGOs. In a note which he had left before leaving home, Mr. Joshi claimed he had been subjected to “mental harassment” in recent months.
(with inputs from PTI)
