CBI books Lawyers Collective, Anand Grover for FCRA violations

The CBI on Tuesday said it had registered a case against Mumbai-based NGO 'Lawyers Collective' and its President Anand Grover for alleged violation of the FCRA rules.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), it registered the case of violation of Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA), criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust on June 13, after receiving a Home Ministry report in this regard.

Unknown officer-bearers and functionaries of the NGO, private persons and public servants have also been made accused in the FIR.

The complaint from the Home Ministry said that the NGO was registered for carrying out social activities and it received Rs 32.39 crore from 2006-07 to 2014-15. However, the violation of the FCRA was noticed in 2010, the complaint said.

The complaint said the site inspection was carried out at the office premises of the NGO between January 19 to 23 in 2016, and also the response filed by the Lawyers Collective was not found to be satisfactory.

In November 2016, the Home Ministry had cancelled the registration of Lawyers Collective under the FCRA, stopping the organisation from accepting funding from abroad.

Six months earlier, the NGO's foreign funding licence had been suspended.

In May this year, the NGO was issued a notice by the Supreme Court for the alleged violations.

--IANS

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