The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested Union Home Ministry official Anand Joshi who was evading the probe in a case of alleged issuance of arbitrary Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) notices to NGOs for financial gains.
CBI sources said Joshi’s movements were being tracked after he did not turn up for questioning on Wednesday. He was detained near Tilak Nagar area of the national Capital around 5 pm on Sunday. He was brought to the CBI headquarters and questioned in connection with the case against him.
Joshi’s grilling continued till late Sunday evening.
However, Joshi’s family did not cooperate with the CBI in locating him after he went missing from his Indirapuram (Ghaziabad) home, leaving behind an emotional note addressed to his wife Meenakshi in which he claimed he was undergoing tremendous mental tension.
After registering a case under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Joshi and unknown others on May 5, the CBI had summoned him to appear before the agency for questioning on May 11. But he neither intimated the agency nor appeared for the questioning.
The case was slapped against Under Secretary in the Union Home Ministry Anand Joshi and some other unnamed persons for allegedly indulging in corrupt practices and arbitrarily issuing notices to many NGOs, registered under FCRA, which were receiving significant amount of foreign contributions.
The accused allegedly obtained bribe from some of these organisations through immovable assets and certain private companies, CBI sources said a day after searches were conducted at his official and residential premises on May 8.
Searches were conducted at four locations of Joshi during which files relating to Ministries of Home and Information and Broadcasting were seized from his possession.
A day before his “disappearance”, Joshi had also made serious allegation against Prasad who heads foreigners’ division, saying he was threatened by him (Prasad) to give a clean chit to some NGOs, including US-based Ford Foundation. He also claimed he was offered “crores of rupees” by his superiors to give clean chit to NGOs for clearance under FCRA.