Anand Joshi kept secret papers even after transfer, says CBI

The CBI’s investigations into the corruption case against Anand Joshi, under-secretary with the Union ministry of home affairs, have revealed that even after his transfer from the Foreign Contribution Regula-tion Act division of the ministry, the public servant continued to indulge in corrupt practices “on the basis of secret documents which he illegally kept with him”.

Sources said the agency sleuths have also found that Mr Joshi had allegedly made investments in booking a shop in the name of his wife in Indirapuram Habitat Centre.

The CBI on May 9 registered a corruption case against Mr Joshi for allegedly issuing FCRA notices arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gains.

Sources further said, “Certain secret files pertaining to the home ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry were recovered from the accused officer during recent searches carried out by the CBI. The files recovered should not have been with the accused officer.”

The CBI on Sunday arrested Mr Joshi, who went missing from his residence last week after leaving behind a note. Mr Joshi was arrested during questioning. The case was slapped against Mr Joshi and some other unnamed persons for allegedly indulging in corrupt practices and arbitrarily issuing notices to several NGOs, registered under FCRA, which were receiving foreign contributions, including activist Teesta Setalvad’s Sabrang Trust.

Joshi rejected the charge and instead accused his seniors of pressuring him to give a clean chit to NGOs. In a note which he had left before leaving home, Joshi claimed he had been subjected to mental harassment in recent months. In the Hindi note addressing his wife, Joshi had 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”.