The Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended corruption-accused undersecretary Anand Joshi, following his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation. His suspension comes into effect immediately, according to officials, PTI reported. Joshi, who is facing charges of corruption for suspicious dealings with a few NGOs, was arrested on Sunday, five days after he went missing. He reportedly had access to files related to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and is accused of accepting bribes to acquire clearances for NGOs under it.
In this regard, he is accused of being in illegal possession of a file related to activist Teesta Setalvad’s NGO Sabrang Trust, which allegedly accepted $290,000 (approximately Rs 1.95 crore) from the US-based Ford Foundation without being registered under the Act.
The CBI registered a corruption case against Joshi on May 9, alleging that cash worth Rs 7.5 lakh and “incriminating documents” were recovered in the raids they conducted in four locations, including Joshi’s home and office. The files were from the ministries of home affairs and information and broadcasting.
Joshi has denied these allegations, and instead, blamed his senior, Additional Secretary BK Prasad, of pressuring him to clear the NGOs of charges against them. He said he was offered around Rs 200-250 crore to remove Ford Foundation from a blacklist. Prasad, too, refuted the claims. “...All these allegations of corruption were levelled against me. I never removed the file on Sabrang Trust either,” he had told The Indian Express.
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