Raids at rights group offices in Bengaluru and New Delhi after CBI registers case on alleged violation of funding rules.

India‘s federal investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has raided the local offices of human rights group Amnesty International in an investigation into alleged violations of foreign funding rules.

“It was alleged that the provision of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 and Indian Penal Code were contravened,” the CBI said in a statement, adding that the Indian arm received contributions from Amnesty International in the United Kingdom despite government restrictions.

The raids were conducted at Amnesty International’s offices in Bengaluru and New Delhi after the CBI registered a case against the group based on a complaint from India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, the statement added.

Amnesty International, which has criticised some actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s government in the past, was also accused of violations of foreign funding rules last year.

‘Pattern of harassment’

“Over the past year, a pattern of harassment has emerged every time Amnesty International India stands up and speaks out against human rights violations in India,” the group said in a statement.

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Amnesty International accused Modi’s government of violating human rights in Indian-administered Kashmir after it revoked the constitutional autonomy of the disputed state in August and came down heavily on protesters in the aftermath.

The rights group also criticised the government’s recent move to revoke the overseas Indian citizenship of British writer Aatish Taseer, calling it “discrimination based on gender and ethnic or national origin”.

India has tightened surveillance of non-profit organisations in the country since Modi took power in 2014, with thousands of civil society groups having their licences to receive foreign donations cancelled or suspended.

India’s financial crime investigating agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), froze bank accounts of environmental watchdog Greenpeace India last year, forcing the organisation to cut its staff to a bare minimum.

Amnesty International India’s office was raided and its bank accounts were frozen by the ED last year.