CBI files preliminary enquiry against Tablighi Jamaat over FCRA violations

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday said that it has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against the organisers of the Tablighi Jamaat, suspecting unaccounted foreign funding by the Islamic sect .

According to CBI sources, the agency has registered a PE against the organisers of Tablighi Jamaat and other unknown persons on a complaint alleging that the organisers and the trustees of the organisation were indulging into dubious foreign funding and cash transactions by illegal or unfair means.

The sources also said that the Tablighi Jamaat also did not disclose receipt of foreign funds to authorities. The PE has been registered to probe the funds received in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). In April this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Jamaat chief Maulana Saad, trusts linked to Tablighi Jamaat and others.

The ED has worked on the finances and transactions of the Tablighi Jamaat and its office bearers and has obtained various documents from banks and financial intelligence gathering agencies. The case was filed by the agency on the basis of an FIR registered by the Delhi Police.

The action by the CBI comes a day after the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police filed 12 fresh chargesheets naming 541 foreign nationals in connection with the Tablighi Jamaat case. The chargesheets containing 12,000 pages were filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Tanya Bemniwal, who set June 29 as date for further hearing.

By now, the Crime Branch has named more than 900 foreign nationals in the case. They have been charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and also for violating the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). They have also been charged for visa rules violation. The government has cancelled their visa and blacklisted them.

The case pertains to a religious congregation at Banglewali Masjid in Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin on March 13 in which a large number of foreign nationals had participated. The Delhi Police registered an FIR in this regard on March 31.