Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising at her residence during a raid by CBI (PTI photo)

NEW DELHI: A month after the CBI registered an FIR against senior lawyer Anand Grover and his Mumbai-based NGO Lawyers Collective on charges of violating rules in receiving and spending foreign funds, the agency conducted raids at five locations in Delhi and Mumbai in connection with the probe.

The residences and offices of Indira Jaising and Grover and Lawyers Collective were searched during which, sources said, certain “incriminating documents” were seized.

Apart from Grover, the CBI has booked the president of Lawyers Collective, unidentified office-bearers of the organisation, some private individuals and a few public servants in the FIR lodged on a complaint by the home ministry. The MHA alleged that funds from foreign sources were used to lobby MPs and amounted to political activity not permitted under the rules.

In a statement, Lawyers Collective and its trustees, including founding members Anand Grover and Indira Jaising, expressed shock and outrage. “Mr Grover and I are being targeted for the human rights work that we have done over the years,” PTI quoted Jaising as saying.

The MHA alleged that funds received through foreign contributions were spent on media advocacy with 67 MPs in March-April 2010 and with 99 MPs in August 2010 for drafting of the HIV/AIDS bill by Lawyers Collective. It held “paid dharnas” on the HIV/AIDS bill outside the law ministry, which amounted to violation of FCRA, the ministry alleged. It also claimed that the NGO had organised a free trade agreement rally.

“It was alleged in the complaint that between 2006 and 2014, the accused entered into a conspiracy in Mumbai, Delhi and other places with an intent to cheat the government of India in the matter of misusing and diverting foreign contribution received in the Mumbai-based NGO,” a CBI officer said.

“In pursuance of the said conspiracy, foreign contribution to the tune of Rs 32.39 crore was received in the account of the NGO and the accused persons misutilised a sizeable amount of the foreign contribution and thereby violated the provisions of Fera, 2010,” the officer added.

The CBI invoked sections of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act apart from IPC sections pertaining to hatching a criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and cheating.

The MHA's complaint also alleged that Jaising, who served as additional solicitor general under UPA from 2009 to 2014, had received remuneration worth Rs 96.6 lakh from foreign contributions received by Lawyers Collective. It also alleged that her foreign travels as ASG were funded by Lawyers Collective, and paid for from foreign funding, without prior approval of the ministry.

The MHA has alleged that the lawyer violated FCRA norms by “not seeking clearances from the government for receiving foreign contributions in the form of remuneration from the organisation and accepting foreign hospitality while visiting a foreign country”. The ministry claimed that the utilisation of foreign funds for advocacy, indulging in lobbying MPs and thereby influencing the political process and parliamentary institutions was in clear violation of the “letter and spirit” of the act.



In Video: CBI raids offices, residence of Anand Grover, Jaising, NGO