The CBI on Sunday arrested Anand Joshi, undersecretary in the Union home ministry, over its investigation into a corruption case against him.
The CBI on Sunday arrested Anand Joshi, undersecretary in the Union home ministry, over its investigation into a corruption case against him. Mr Joshi, who went missing from his residence last week after leaving behind a note, was arrested during interrogation. “The sleuths decided to arrest him when he failed to satisfactorily reply to the questions put before him. He gave conflicting versions during questioning and remained uncooperative”, a source said. He is likely to be produced before a designated court on Monday.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Joshi was detained by CBI officials in the Tilak Nagar area of west Delhi. “Immediately after his detention, agency sleuths brought Joshi to the CBI headquarters for questioning in connection with the case”, a CBI official said. The CBI on May 9 filed a corruption case against Mr Joshi for allegedly issuing notices under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gain.
A senior CBI officer told this newspaper the agency was tracking the accused and based on information that he was in the west Delhi area at around 5 pm, he was detained. 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, that were receiving foreign contributions, including activist Teesta Setalvad’s Sabrang Trust. Mr 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, Mr Joshi claimed he had been subjected to mental harassment in recent months. In the Hindi note addressing his wife, Mr 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. I am leaving home and please do not look for me. You (for wife) are now both a father and a mother to our children.”
Mr Joshi had further added: “The dedication and integrity with which I was serving the nation... I never imagined that this would happen to me. While serving my nation, I have probably made too many enemies....”
