Arunachal environmental activist booked by CBI for allegedly receiving unlawful foreign funds

The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a case against Arunachal Pradesh-based lawyer and environmental activist Bhanu Tatak for allegedly receiving funds from abroad in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

Tatak is a legal adviser to the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum and the coordinator of civil society organisation Dibang Resistance.

She and the organisations have been protesting against the Siang Multipurpose Project, a proposed 12,500-megawatt power project on Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang river. The organisation Dibang resistance has also been protesting against a 2,880-megawatt power project on the Dibang river.

The CBI has alleged in its first information report, seen by Scroll, that Tatak had received more than Rs 17.6 lakh in funds from “different foreign organisations and individuals directly into her personal savings bank account without obtaining mandatory certification of registration” under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

The central agency has alleged that Tatak received the funds from foreign entities such as Philippines-based Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy and Indigenous Peoples Rights International, Ireland-based Front Line and United Kingdom-based Human Rights Resource Centre.

The CBI claimed that Tatak has never filed income tax returns and that the foreign funds that she allegedly received were not reflected in any official records.

The central agency further alleged that the...

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