Tribune News Service
New Delhi, 16 September
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at the office and house of social activist and former IAS and member of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) during the UPA regime in connection with a money laundering case.
ED sources said, the central financial probe agency registered a case against Mander and an NGO linked to him, Equity Study, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of an FIR registered by the Delhi Police.
Officials said that searches were being conducted at Mander’s residence at Vasant Kunj and the Center for Equity Studies at Adhchini in New Delhi.
Mander’s family sources said he and his wife left for Germany last night for a nine-month fellowship that the worker has earned there. The Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin will host Mander for nine months as part of a fellowship he has awarded to her.
Sources said that when ED officials came, there was no one at Mander’s house and the worker’s daughter, who also lives in Delhi, reached.
In 2017 Mander started Caravan-e-Mohabbat, a civil society initiative for solidarity and atonement. It includes writers, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers and volunteers who travel across the country to visit families who have suffered because of hatred. Violence and Lynching.
The caravan first started its journey to Assam in September 2017. Since then it has made 21 trips to 12 states.
Reacting to the development, activist Shabnam Hashmi said in a tweet, “Strongly condemn the ED raid on @harsh_mander’s residence, office and children’s house from this morning.”