CBI raids activist Teesta Setalvad's office, home in Mumbai

Days after filing a FIR against activist Teesta Setalvad, federal investigating agency CBI raided her residence and office today. The federal investigating agency on 7 July registered a case against her, her husband and another individual. The government had earlier ordered a CBI probe into the transfer of funds by US-based Ford Foundation to Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited (SCPPL) and even froze a bank account of the firm on 26 June. [caption id=“attachment_2341218” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AFP image[/caption] Sources had told PTI that SCPPL was allegedly in violation of rules of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) in accepting a donation of $2.9 lakh from Ford Foundation without getting clearance of the Home Ministry. According to the rules, an organisation or a private firm can accept donations from overseas only after it is registered under FCRA. Official sources told PTI that this donation was, therefore, a “serious violation” of FCRA provisions which mandate funding from a foreign source to only those recipients who have FCRA registration. A bank account of the firm located in Juhu, Mumbai, had also been frozen at the instruction of the Home Ministry. The Gujarat government had earlier asked the Home Ministry to take action against Ford Foundation, alleging that the US-based organisation was “interfering in internal affairs” of the country and also “abetting communal disharmony” through an NGO run by Setalvad. The fund transfer from Ford Foundation has, at present, to be cleared by a nodal official in the Home Ministry. In April, the government had ordered that funds from Ford Foundation should not be released by any bank to any Indian NGO without mandatory permission from the Home Ministry. There are several cases in which the Gujarat government and Setalvad are waging legal battles. While she has filed several cases against the state government functionaries, including the then chief minister Narendra Modi in connection with post-Godhra riots of 2002, the state police have filed a case of alleged embezzlement of funds against her.