Anand Joshi, Under Secretary in the Union Home Ministry has gone missing from his home in Ghaziabad. He was being investigated by the CBI and claimed facing "mental harassment". (File Photo)
Highlights
- Home Ministry official Anand Joshi being investigated by the CBI
- Files linked to the foreign funding of NGOs found in his house
- Mr Joshi missing, claims in letter he was being pressured by seniors
A Home Ministry official being investigated by the CBI for illegally keeping files connected to activist Teesta Setalvad's organisation is missing. Anand Joshi, an under-secretary, has left a letter claiming he had "made enemies while serving the nation."
Mr Joshi was to be questioned by the CBI yesterday but never showed up. His family has reported him missing to the police.
The officer came under scrutiny after the CBI, investigating missing files, found in his house documents linked to an inquiry into the foreign funding of NGOs like Ms Setalvad's Sabrang.
Mr Joshi had, earlier this week, claimed that he was pressured by his senior to give a clean chit to some NGOs served notices for the violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act or FCRA, including the Ford Foundation.
His wife Minakshi Sharma says she last saw him around 2 AM on Tuesday at their home in Indirapuram near Delhi.
Anand Joshi's wife Minakshi Sharma found a note from him when she woke up in the morning and saw that her husband was not at home.
"When I woke up around 7:30 am, the main door was ajar and he wasn't there. I later found the note he left behind," she said.
In the Hindi note to his wife, Mr Joshi wrote: "I have been going through extremely high mental harassment for the past few months but now the situation has got out of hand. At this moment I need peace and that is not possible here. I am leaving home and please do not look for me. You are now both a father and a mother to our children."
He alleged that he had been harassed by his senior, and named Additional Secretary BK Prasad, who has denied the allegation. "The dedication and integrity with which I was serving the nation, I had never imagined that this would happen to me...While serving my nation, I have probably made too many Enemies," Mr Joshi wrote.
The CBI claims to have found unexplained cash and files during searches at his office and home.
In the past two years, the BJP-led government has tightened surveillance of foreign-funded charities. It says the organisations have either not disclosed details of their donations or used overseas money to engage in "anti-national" activities.