E-Paper
CBI files chargesheet against Deepak Talwar in FCRA violation case
NGO Advantage India had received Rs 90.72 crore under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme for carrying out social activities but it was diverted for some other purposes, the probe agency has said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed a chargesheet against aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar for alleged violation of the foreign contribution regulation act (FCRA) by his non-profit organisation.
NGO Advantage India had received Rs 90.72 crore under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme for carrying out social activities but it was diverted for some other purposes, the probe agency has said.
“It’s a forced chargesheet. The has been no complaint from the foreign donors so how is there a crime,” Talwar’s lawyer Tanveer Ahmed Mir said while speaking to HT.
The probe agency had arrested his close aide Yasmeen Kapoor and two others in September last year in the case. Talwar is already in jail for his role.
An FIR was registered in the matter in November 2017 naming Talwar, his NGO, a company M/s Accordis Health Care Pvt Ltd and its representative Sunil Khandelwal and MD Raman Kapoor, a consultant M/s T Kapoor and unknown persons for criminal conspiracy, forgery and sections 33, 35 and 37 of FCRA.
The ministry of home affairs had asked CBI to investigate the matter. The agency had arrested him in July 2019 and interrogated him at length.
Talwar is under investigation in connection with several aviation deals as well. He was arrested by ED in January last year after he was deported from Dubai in another case related to an aviation scandal.
He allegedly acted as a middleman to secure favourable air traffic rights for foreign private airlines in 2008-09 at the cost of national carrier Air India by conniving with government officials.
Deepak Talwar’s son Aditya Talwar is also under investigation in the aviation cases. He is currently based in Antigua and Barbuda.
In its FIR registered in 2017, CBI had alleged that Talwar and his NGO, in the name of purchasing ambulances and other articles, diverted the funds received from a Europe-based defence company.
Talwar’s name had also appeared in the Nira Radia tapes and later 54 times in the controversial visitors’ entry register of former CBI director Ranjit Sinha’s residence.
