CBI raids 40 locations over FCRA violations

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted raids at 40 locations across multiple cities as it started a probe into alleged collusion between government officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOS) for “illegal clearance” of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licences, people familiar with the development said.

Raids were conducted in Delhi, Mysore, Coimbatore, Chennai, and a few places in Rajasthan among others to nab representatives of NGOS, middlemen and public servants, including officials from the FCRA division of the Union home ministry, people cited above said. The premier anticorruption agency was acting on a tip-off from the MHA.

It is alleged that certain public servants in FCRA division, in connivance with NGOS and were facilitating illegal clearances of licences to allow them to receive funding from foreign donors, one of the people said.

About half a dozen government officials and some private persons were apprehended during raids and were being questioned, a senior CBI officer said, wishing not to be named.