Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

ED conducts searches on premises linked to Harsh Mander

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 16 conducted searches on premises linked to former Indian Administrative Service officer and social activist Harsh Mander in connection with a money-laundering probe.

The searches were carried out at Adchini, Mehrauli and Vasant Kunj in south Delhi, hours after Mander left for Germany along with his wife for a six-month fellowship programme at the Robert Bosch Academy.

“The ED investigation is related to a First Information Report [FIR] registered by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing in February,” said a senior agency official. The police instituted the case against two children’s homes and their parent body, Centre for Equity Studies, of which Mander is a director. It was based on a report submitted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) last year, highlighting alleged financial irregularities. Mander’s name is not there in the FIR.

In February, the Mehrauli police registered an FIR under various provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Indian Penal Code on a complaint from the NCPCR Registrar alleging violations. NCPCR teams, in October 2020, conducted an inspection of children homes Umeed Aman Ghar and Khushi Rainbow Home in south Delhi.

In a statement, the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) confirmed the ED searching its office, Umeed Ghar and Mander’s residence. “This is a continuation of harassment and coercion of CES and Harsh Mander for being an outspoken and passionate defender of human rights,” it alleged.

The organisation said that over the past several months, it had been subjected to raids, investigation, and inquiries by different government agencies, including the Delhi Police and the NCPCR.

The searches triggered sharp reactions from politicians. “I am shocked & dismayed to read of the ED raids on my friend and college batchmate harsh_mander...he is a person of unquestionable integrity & honesty, incapable of wrongdoing, almost too upright for the standards of today’s India. This raid is a travesty,” tweeted Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “One day after the International Day of Democracy, Modi Sarkar continues with its FDI obsession— Fear, Deception, Intimidation, by harassing a renowned activist and intellectual, Harsh Mander. And he gives lectures to others on inclusiveness and democracy!”