National: A Sessions Court in Mumbai rejected an anticipatory bail application filed by Social Activist Teesta Setalvad in connection with a case of alleged foreign donations to her NGO in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) on July 24, 2015.
Social Activist Teesta Setalvad, who was at the forefront of the campaign for the 2002 Gujarat riot victims. It was she who had moved the Bombay High Court soon after the decision of Sessions Court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case against Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand on July 8, 2015 and had raided their home and offices a week later. The agency is looking into the possibility of Setalvad’s NGO Sabrang received funding from the United States-based Ford Foundation without the permission of government.
The Gujarat Police had recently said the social activist and her husband “misappropriated” funds meant for charity for personal expenses ranging from wine, ear-buds to expensive mobile phone besides tampering with the evidence.
The CBI registered the case after the home ministry recently asked the agency to conduct a probe into the funding.
A bank account of the firm located in Mumbai was frozen on the instructions of the home ministry. Sources said certain documents were recovered by the agency, which they claimed appears to support the allegations.
Teesta Setalvad had earlier claimed that the charges against her are baseless and that she was fully cooperating with the CBI.
