FCRA scam: CBI books three from AP & Telangana

HYDERABAD: Out of 36 accused named by the CBI in the FCRA scandal, three accused hail from Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. NGOs like AMG India International of Chilakaluripet, Harvest India in Vijayawada, Christian Life Centre Ministries at Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam and Aenon Ministries and Trust in Secunderabad and Indian Christian Ministries in Ongole are also involved as well.
The accused were identified as BA Manoj Kumar, a resident of Regimental Bazar in Secunderabad, Alfred Mohanty, an administrator at CLC Ministries, and K Suresh Kumar of Harvest India.
The CBI alleged that Manoj Kumar connived with Alok Ranjan, a senior administrative officer in MHA, who earlier worked with FCRA division, and Ravi Shankar Ambastha of Delhi.
"The accused were obtaining bribes from NGOs for facilitating registration and renewal of registration under FCRA and for other FCRA-related works. The accused were running Immaculate Global Consultants and ASRA Foundation using the residential address of Ambastha and phone numbers of both Ambastha and Ranjan in Delhi. Ranjan was channelising his ill-gotten money into Mansi International Private Ltd, which is jointly managed by his wife Manisha Verma. Besides taking cash themselves, they were accepting cash deposits into the account of Kamlesh, their Delhi-based employee," the CBI alleged.
The CBI said since April, Ambastha contacted the NGOs and visited Hyderabad and even had a meeting with Mohanty at a star hotel in Banjara Hills. During one such meeting, Mohanty represented his uncle Arun Kumar Kanti Mohanty for settling the matter of AMG India International and agreed to pay Rs 15 lakh bribe to FCRA officers.
On May 2, Ranjan contacted Ramakuri Hepsiba Bhanumathi of Aenon Ministries and told her that once they take out the internal examination report from FCRA by giving Rs 5,000 to FCRA officials, they will come to know about the problems in their annual returns. Once, these are sorted out, then the renewal of the NGO can be done. Alok demanded either 1% of total donation or Rs 1 lakh, whichever is less.
In another instance, Ambastha informed Ranjan that the promoters of Harvest India had agreed to give Rs 8 lakh for withdrawal of suspension of their licence as well as renewal of the same.
In the meantime, Ambastha contacted Manoj and enquired about the case of The New Testament Church of India located at Bheemunipatnam, Vishakhapatnam. Manoj informed him that he told the representative of New Testament Church that for waiver of their penalty for late submission of annual returns, sorting out of faults detected in the returns as well as for renewal, he had demanded Rs 11 lakh. On April 28, Manoj informed Ambastha that the representative might have already paid the penalty and he had demanded Rs 2.5 lakh for licence renewal.
In yet another instance, Ambastha conveyed his demand of Rs 7 lakh to Indian Christian Ministries for getting its licence renewal done from FCRA in connivance with Raj Kumar, accountant, FCRA.