FIR against activist Medha Patkar, 11 others in Madhya Pradesh for 'misuse' of funds; she denies allegations

An FIR was registered against Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar and 11 others in Madhya Pradeshs Barwani district on a complaint by a villager alleging the misuse of funds collected for managing educational facilities for tribal students by diverting them for political and antinational agenda police said on SundayPatkar has dismissed the allegations against her as wrong saying she had a full account and audit of the expenses and hinted at political reasons behind the allegationsBarwani superintendent of police Deepak Kumar Shukla told PTI over the phone that a case was registered against Medha Patkar and others following a private complaint in which the complainant has provided some documentsAs the case is related to old transactions a detailed investigation will be carried out he saidThe FIR was registered at the Barwani police station on Saturday on the complaint of one Pritamraj Badole a resident of Temla Bujurg villageBadole has alleged that Narmada Navnirman Abhiyan NNA a trust registered in Mumbai misused funds collected for running residential educational facilities for tribal students of the Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as per the FIRThe complainant stated that the NNA had received Rs 1350 crore from various sources in the past 14 years but these funds were used for a political and antinational agenda which requires a probeThose named in the FIR are Medha Patkar Parveen Rumi Jahangir Vijaya Chouhan Kailash Awasya Mohan Patidar Ashish Mandloi Kewal Singh Vasave Sanjay Joshi Shyam Patil Sunit SR Noorji Padvi and Keshav VasaveThe case is related to two states iquest Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra The documents and facts will be verified and all the parties concerned will be allowed to present their sides and facts Further legal steps will be taken as per the facts that emerge during the investigation the SP saidAlso Read Madhya Pradesh 4 complaints clubbed into 1 FIR against Moitra for Kali remarksRubbishing the allegations Patkar said she was yet to receive any information on this development registration of the FIR from the policePatkar claimed it was not the first time that she was being subjected to such allegations and asserted she was ready to reply to all of them as the full accounts and audit of the funds were availableShe alleged the complainant may be associated with the RSS and ABVP and reiterated that her organisation does not receive funds from abroad and all finances are thoroughly audited annuallyThe funds were used appropriately and the jiwanshalas being run at present have been there for the past three decades The organisation has been involved in rehabilitation for decades It has always given replies to such allegations with documents Patkar saidThe activist however also said she didnt deal with funds and expenses which are taken care of by other functionariesPatkar who claimed that a debate is underway in the country on rashtravad nationalism and rashtradroh treasonsedition said there may be political reasons behind this case or it may be a conspiracy to defameThose who do the right thing by asking questions about the system are called antinationals The public will decide she saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever