NEW DELHI: The home ministry on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that it had recommended CBI probe against five NGOs/associations in the past five years for violations of the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act, 2010.

The organisations, which had been receiving funding from overseas under provisions of FCRA, were found to have indulged in violations including misuse and diversion of funds. These include New Life Ministries in India based in Karnataka (referred to CBI in 20160, M/s Advantage India registered in Delhi (referred in 20170; and three Tamil Nadu-based NGOs Centre for Promotion of Social Concerns(referred in 2014), Caruna Bal Vikash and Adhane Management Consultants Pvt Ltd (both referred for CBI probe in 2016), minister of state for Kiren Rijiju said in written reply to a question.

Rijiju added that as per FCRA database, 806 applications for renewal of FCRA licence were pending with the home ministy as on July 26, 2018 for want of reports from security agencies and clarifications sought from the applicants.

Advantage India, whose FCRA licence has been cancelled, is run by corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar and being probed by CBI for alleged fraud and money laundering involving funds received from France-based aircraft maker Airbus SAS and British missile systems company MBDA International.

Caruna Bal Vikash, which received a major chunk of its funding from US-based donor Compassion International that was earlier placed in ‘prior permission’ category, is alleged to have diverted funds to organisations working in religious and socio-religious fields.

The home ministry had last week informed the Rajya Sabha that the total number of NGOs and associations with valid FCRA licences had dipped from more than 40,000 in 2014-15 to 24,000 at present.

