CBI books Arunachal anti-dam activist Bhanu Tatak over alleged FCRA violation
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against Arunachal Pradesh-based lawyer and environmental activist Bhanu Tatak, alleging she received foreign funds for research projects without the mandatory registration required under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
According to the CBI's FIR, Tatak allegedly received more than Rs 17.6 lakh between 2022 and 2025 from foreign organisations and individuals — including the Philippines-based Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy and Indigenous Peoples Rights International, Ireland's Front Line Defenders, and the UK-based Human Rights Resource Centre — directly into her personal savings account, without obtaining the certification of registration or prior permission the FCRA mandates. The agency also alleged that Tatak had never filed income tax returns and that the foreign receipts did not appear in her official records. It claimed the funds were used to "organise and sustain" anti-dam protests in Arunachal Pradesh, which it said adversely affected the country's economic and strategic interests.
Tatak, a legal adviser to the Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum (SIFF) and coordinator of the civil society group Dibang Resistance, has been one of the leading voices opposing the proposed 12,500-megawatt Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) on the Siang river, as well as a separate 2,880-megawatt hydropower project on the Dibang river. An Adi woman from Siang district who studied at Delhi University's Miranda House before turning to anti-dam activism, she has argued alongside SIFF that the Siang project poses an existential threat to the indigenous Adi community, raising concerns over displacement, submergence of villages, and ecological damage in a seismically sensitive, biodiversity-rich region. The forum has also alleged the project is being pursued without the free, prior and informed consent of affected communities. Tatak did not respond to requests for comment on the CBI case.
This is not the first action taken against her. In September 2025, immigration authorities at Delhi airport stopped Tatak from boarding a flight to Ireland, where she was to attend a three-month academic programme at Dublin City University, citing a lookout circular issued by Arunachal Pradesh Police. She had called the move an arbitrary abuse of administrative power aimed at silencing dissent.
