Aakar Patel stopped at Bengaluru airport; Ex-Amnesty India head on CBI exit control list

Aakar Patel took to Twitter to claim that a CBI officer later informed him that he was on the agency's Look-Out Circular due to the ongoing FCRA violation probe against the organisation.

Former Amnesty India director Aakar Patel was stopped from leaving the country at the Bengaluru airport despite a trial court allowing him to travel abroad.

Taking to Twitter shortly after being refused permission to board the flight to the United States, Patel said he had been placed under the exit control list by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Patel, who was scheduled to deliver some lectures at American universities, was reportedly stopped at the Immigration counter at the airport.

He further revealed that a CBI officer called to tell the activist that he was on the look-out circular of the agency in connection with the ongoing investigation against Amnesty India International.

In his Twitter post, he sought to know from Prime Minister Narendra Modi why his name was on the exit control list.

A trial court in Surat had on February 19 permitted Patel to travel to the United States and released his passport for three months from March 1 till May 30 subject to conditions.

Amnesty India and its entities came under the CBI probe after the Union Home Ministry lodged a complaint about violations of the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.

The Union Home Ministry complaint noted that the organisation's London office remitted payment of Rs 10 crore, as Foreign Direct Investment, to Amnesty India without approval from the Union home ministry. Besides, UK-based entities allegedly remitted another Rs 26 crore to Amnesty India. The government thereafter cancelled the FCRA license of the organisation.

A parallel investigation by the Enforcement Directorate is also underway. During the course of the probe, agency sources alleged that following the cancellation of the FCRA license, Amnesty entities in India were still receiving money from abroad via newer methods.