'Govt is targeting Indira Jaising and her husband'

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday accused the government of "targeting" former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising and her husband Anand Grover hours after the CBI began raids at their residences and offices.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is carrying out searches at Jaising's residence and offices of Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by Grover, a noted lawyer, who has been booked by the agency for alleged FCRA violations in receiving foreign aid.

The searches are taking place at the Nizamuddin residence and office of Jaising, the office of the NGO in Jangpura and an office in Mumbai from 5 in the morning, officials said.

"While the law must take its course, brazen targeting of well known and respected senior advocates by the government via its agencies raises serious questions about its intentions," Yechury said in a tweet.

The CBI had filed an FIR against Grover and the NGO on the basis of a complaint from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which has alleged several discrepancies in the utilisation of foreign aid received by the group.

According to the complaint by MHA, which is now a part of the FIR, the group had received foreign aid worth over Rs 32.39 crore between 2006-07 and 2014-15, wherein irregularities were committed that amounted to a violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

Jaising is not named as an accused in the FIR but her alleged role figures in the ministry's complaint.