An Undersecretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), who was raided by the CBI for his alleged role in corrupt practices and walking away with the files pertaining to alleged foreign funds violations by social activist Teesta Setalvad, went missing from his residence in Ghaziabad near Delhi.

He was to appear for questioning before the CBI on Wednesday. The agency said it was the job of the local police to keep a watch on him. The MHA is also conducting disciplinary proceedings against him.

Note to wife

The official, Anand Joshi, left behind a note to his wife, Minakshi Sharma, claiming he was facing “mental harassment” and had made too many “enemies.”

On May 3, Mr. Joshi shared a post on his Facebook page, where he quoted freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad: “Who has the courage to besiege the brave, at times of crises even a lion may be cornered by dogs.” A 2014 photograph on his Facebook wall shows him in a meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

After the CBI registered a case against him, Mr. Joshi, a day ago, claimed to The Hindu that he was pressured by his superior, Additional Secretary B.K. Prasad to give clean chit to some of the NGOs who were served Foreign Contribution Regulation Act notices, including the Ford Foundation. The donor had denied the charges. Mr. Prasad is also a complainant in the CBI’s case.

As first reported by The Hindu, the official had come under the scanner after he walked away with the files pertaining to the alleged FCRA violations by Ms. Setalvad’s NGOs, Sabrang Trust and Centre for Justice and Peace (CJP) in March this year. Ford Foundation was the prime contributor to Ms. Setalvad’s NGOs. The U.S.-based organisation was put on a watch list in April 2015, only to be removed this year.

Mr. Prasad said, “Whatever he [Joshi] is saying is baseless. The CBI is investigating the matter and the truth will come out.”

A senior government official said, “In November 2015 he issued notices to 60-70 NGOs en masse and asked them to appear before him. He was under watch since then but then in March we realised he had walked away with a key file on Teesta Setalvad. He could have been trading information.”

He was last seen around 2 a.m., before he went to sleep, his wife said at their residence in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.

“When I woke up around 7.30 a.m., the main door was ajar and he [Joshi] wasn’t there. I later found the note he left behind,” she said. In the Hindi note, Mr. Joshi said, “I have been going through extremely high mental harassment for the past few months but now the situation has got out of hand...At this moment I need peace and that is not possible here.

“I am leaving home and please do not look for me. You [Minakshi] are now both a father and a mother of our [two] children,” he wrote.