CBI raids homes of former additional solicitor-general Indira Jaising and husband Anand Grover in foreign funding case

The CBI is carrying out searches on Thursday at the offices of Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by noted lawyer Anand Grover, husband of former additional solicitor-general Indira Jaising, officials said.The searches are understood to be taking place at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the NGO, they said.Raids are also being carried out at the home and offices of both Indira Jaising and Anand Grover.The CBI had earlier filed a case against the two and the NGO Lawyers Collective of violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) violations in receiving foreign aid. Grover is a trustee and director of Lawyers Collective.The agency had filed an FIR against Grover and the NGO on the basis of a complaint from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which has alleged several discrepancies in the utilisation of foreign aid received by the group.Though Jaising was not named as an accused in the FIR but her alleged role figures in the complaint of the ministry. Unknown officer-bearers and functionaries of the NGO and unknown private persons and public servants have also been made accused in the FIR.The organisation, which was founded in 1981, states online that it “is a group of lawyers with a mission to empower and change the status of marginalised groups through the effective use of the law, and engagement in human rights advocacy, legal aid and litigation.”Officials did not give any details of locations where searches are going on, they said.Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has condemned the raid on Twitter.When contacted, Grover asked not to be disturbed as he was in the "midst" of it (searches).Lawyers Collective had denied all charges levelled by the CBI.According to the complaint of the ministry, which is now a part of the FIR, the group had received foreign aid worth over Rs 32.39 crore between 2006-07 and 2014-15, wherein irregularities were committed that amounted to a violation of the FCRA.Based on available information and scrutiny of records of the NGO available with the MHA, prima facie violations of various provisions of the FCRA, 2010 were noticed, the ministry said.It added that on-site inspection of books of accounts and records of the NGO was conducted from 19 to 23 January 2016.Jaising, Grover and Lawyers Collective had issued a press statement, disputing "any allegation of misutilisation of any funds"."It is obvious to us that this is victimisation on account of Ms Jaising taking up the issue of the procedure adopted in relation to allegations of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India by a former employee of the Supreme Court, which Ms Jaising has done so in her capacity as a concerned citizen, a senior member of the bar and a women's rights advocate, without commenting on merits of the allegations," the press statement had said.With inputs from PTI