The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is carrying out raids at the residence and offices of Supreme Court advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover in Delhi and Mumbai in connection with a Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) violation case.
In Delhi, the raids were conducted at 54-Nizamuddin East home of the lawyers and C-65 Nizamuddin east office of the Lawyers Collective.
The investigating agency has accused the couple of misusing foreign contributions and spending the funds outside India.
The CBI had earlier in June registered a criminal case against a Delhi-based NGO, Lawyers Collective, for alleged violations of the FCRA rules.
The FIR named Anand Grover, a trustee and director of the organisation and also the husband of apex court lawyer Indira Jaising, as an accused.
Unknown officer-bearers and functionaries of the NGO and unknown private persons and public servants were made accused in the FIR filed under IPC sections that deal with forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
Sections of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 have also been included in the FIR by the central agency after receiving a complaint against the Collective from the Union Home Ministry.
The case involves contributions to their NGO when Indira Jaising was Additional Solicitor General between 2009 and 2014, the CBI alleged according to a report in NDTV. Their foreign trips were allegedly funded by the NGO without the approval of the Home ministry.
The Supreme Court had in May issued notices to advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, and their NGO Lawyers’ Collective, while hearing a petition filed by petitioner Lawyer’s Voice seeking the status of investigations into the alleged case of FCRA violation by the NGO.
The organisation, which had its inception in 1981, states on its website that it “is a group of lawyers with a mission to empower and change the status of marginalised groups through the effective use of law, and an engagement in human rights advocacy, legal aid and litigation.”
This is a first such case where the residence of a Supreme Court judge is being raided after the BJP stormed to power for the second consecutive term.