Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official Anand Joshi who was arrested by the CBI for alleged corrupt practices and walking away with the files pertaining to Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) ‘violations’ by social activist Teesta Setalvad, had also sent arbitrary notices to Public Health Foundation of India and All India Primary Teachers Federation for allegedly flouting FCRA norms.
Investigators have identified the names of more than 14 NGOs whom Mr. Joshi had sent notices to. As reported earlier, the list also includes the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), headed by environmentalist Sunita Narain
Mr. Joshi, who went missing last week after the CBI summoned him for questioning, was arrested on Sunday from a relative’s home. He was sent to five-day custody by a special CBI court on Monday.
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The CBI told the court that Mr. Joshi was not cooperating with the investigations and that files relating to several NGOs missing from the Home Ministry were recovered from his house. It said he was not authorised to take them home.
The custody plea by the CBI was opposed by Mr. Joshi’s counsel who said his mobile was not switched off and he had lost his phone in Ujjain and in his 24-year-long career he was not even issued an office memo.
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“He had identified these NGOs on the basis of foreign contributions received by them. So that he was not caught, he mixed the names of the NGOs which had received foreign funds a little under Rs. 1 crore with those who received more than Rs. 10 crore. The PHFI received around Rs. 552 crore foreign funds over the past two years,” said a senior government official.
An official said that Mr. Joshi also allegedly rang up an employee of Ford Foundation on June 8, 2015 and narrated the entire minutes of the meeting held in MHA regarding action against the U.S.-based donor. “He rang up the employee and offered to sell confidential information pertaining to Ford Foundation. They did not show any interest,” he charged.