Delhi: CBI arrests 14 including 6 officers of MHA for taking bribe

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in connection with the bribery case along with cracking down on non-profit organizations violating foreign funding laws. The CBI has arrested 14 people, including 6 officers posted in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to the information, the agency conducted searches at more than 40 places in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Manipur. During this, several important documents, mobile phones as well as cash worth Rs 3.21 crore were also recovered.

The CBI said that these officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs benefitted the NGOs through renewal of registration/registration under FCRA as well as other works related to FCRA. In return, a bribe was taken. CBI has registered an FIR against 36 people including 7 officers of FCRA. The CBI has taken this action on the basis of the inputs provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The CBI said that some officials of the FCRA division were involved in the conspiracy along with middlemen as well as promoters and representatives of various NGOs. According to the CBI, some officers were impersonating themselves as officers posted in the FCRA division. Also facilitating NGOs for registration, renewal or other work related to FCRA, taking bribe from them in return.

The arrested Home Ministry officials include Pramod Kumar Bhasin (Senior Accountant, who was earlier posted in FCRA Division), Alok Ranjan (Officer, earlier working in FCRA Division), Rajkumar (Accountant, FCRA), Mohammad Shaheed Khan (Assistant). Director, FCRA), Mohammad Ghazanfar Ali (officer, who was earlier posted in FCRA Division) and Tushar Kanti Roy (officer of FCRA).

Along with the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the CBI also arrested Pawan Kumar Sharma, Ramanand Pareek (Hawala operator based in Chennai), Robin Devdas, Ravi Shankar Ambastha, Manoj Kumar B A, Santosh Kumar Prasad, Amita Chandra and Vagish (Chartered Accountant). Live TV