New Delhi, May 11 (Representative) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested 14 people, including 6 public servants, for their alleged involvement in connection with Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) bribery case, the CBI said on Wednesday. The agency also recovered a cash of Rs 3.21 crore during searches at 40 locations in the case. The CBI conducted searches at the premises of the accused at around 40 locations including in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Manipur. A case was registered on May 10, against 36 accused, including 7 public servants of FCRA Division of MHA and NIC and middlemen, representatives of various NGOs on the allegations that some officials of FCRA Division in conspiracy with the promoters/ representatives, of different NGOs, middlemen, were indulging in alleged corrupt activities for getting backdoor FCRA registration/ renewal to NGOs illegally with an object to continue receiving donations despite not fulfilling the prescribed norms, CBI, in a statement, said.
It was further alleged that some public servants were impersonating themselves as officers posted in FCRA Division and were indulging in practices and obtaining alleged bribes from NGOs for facilitating them for their registration/ renewal of registration under FCRA and for other FCRA-related works, the statement added. During the investigation, two accused were caught while delivering and allegedly accepting the bribe amount of Rs 4 lakh on behalf of a Senior Accountant of MHA, New Delhi, according to the central agency. It was alleged that the delivery of bribe was done through a hawala operator and a close associate of said public servant, at Avadi (Tamil Nadu). The accused were produced before the Court. Further investigation is underway.