The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested 14 people, including six officials of the MHA’s Foreigners Division, for allegedly helping NGOs get Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) clearance illegally.

The CBI FIR has alleged that some public servants were impersonating themselves as officers posted in the FCRA division and obtaining bribes from NGOs for facilitating their registration under the FCRA and for other FCRA-related works.

A CBI spokesperson said, “The CBI has arrested 14 accused, including six public servants, and recovered cash worth Rs 3.21 crore (approx), several incriminating documents, mobile phones etc. during searches at the premises of accused at around 40 locations including in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Manipur etc.”

The agency has named 36 people as accused in the case and more arrests are likely to follow. Representatives of various NGOs and middlemen were also named in the FIR.

The arrested public officials have been identified as Parmod Kumar Bhasin, senior accountant with the MHA who was earlier posted in the FCRA division; Alok Ranjan, senior AO, PAO, MHA, earlier worked in the FCRA division; Raj Kumar, accountant, FCRA; Md. Saheed Khan, assistant director, FCRA, Delhi; Md. Ghazanfar Ali, officer of the MHA, earlier posted in the FCRA Division; and Tushar Kanti Roy, official of the FCRA division.

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