The Delhi police special cell arrested two government officials, including one posted in the home ministry’s Foreigners Division, for allegedly seeking illegal gratification from an association in return for facilitating its pending registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), a government statement said on Tuesday.
It specifies how that money must be received, accounted for, and reported. The two were arrested on Monday after a tip-off by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) about the two men who were allegedly taking money to get the FCRA registration cleared. “The officials, one working as a senior accountant and the other as an accountant, had allegedly approached an association and sought illegal gratification to facilitate its pending FCRA registration. The FCRA is the law that governs how Indian individuals, associations, NGOs, trusts and companies may receive and use money, securities or articles sent to them from a source outside India. It is administered by the MHA. It identifies who may accept foreign contributions, and under what conditions.
the other is currently posted in a Pay and Accounts Office and had previously served in the Foreigners Division,” the spokesperson said While one of the officials is presently posted in the MHA’s Foreigners Division.
India enacted the first FCRA in 1976 to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contributions. As international engagement expanded and cross-border financial flows became more complex, Parliament enacted the FCRA, 2010, replacing the earlier legislation with a modern regulatory framework. Since then, the framework has been strengthened through amendments in 2016, 2018 and 2020. The home ministry introduced the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 and the notified FCRA (Amendment) Rules, 2026 to further improve transparency, governance and regulatory clarity. Earlier this month, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla constituted a 31-member joint committee of Parliament (JPC) to review the bill, after the proposal to send the controversial legislation to a parliamentary panel was accepted in the lower House. On August 12, the Lok Sabha referred the FCRA amendment bill to a JPC for an extensive review after multiple stakeholders, including church bodies, objected to the legislation’s provisions that allowed a Centre-appointed authority to take over assets created through foreign donations if the organisation failed to retain its FCRA license.
First introduced in the budget session but held back at the time, the bill triggered major controversy with the Opposition, several church delegations and three CMs of Christian-majority states raising concerns.
