I-T Dept raids offices of Centre for Policy Research, Oxfam & IPSMF

New Delhi, Sep 07: The Income Tax Department is conducting raids at the offices of leading think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and charity organisation Oxfam India along with Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) which funds a few digital media organisations.

The raid is being conducted in multiple states including Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat over funding of more than 20 registered but non-recognised political parties.

CPR is a public policy think tank and Oxfam is a global organisation working to support child education, empowering women and fighting against inequality in India.

The CPR governing board is chaired by Meenakshi Gopinath, a political scientist who taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University and was the principal of Lady Ram College in New Delhi.

It was previously chaired by academician Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a prominent critic of the BJP government.

Yamini Aiyar, the company's president and CEO is a leading policy researcher who is also the daughter of Congress leader and former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran and IIM professor Rama Bijapurkar are among the board members.

"CPR receives grants from a variety of domestic and international sources, including foundations, corporate philanthropy, governments, and multilateral agencies," the think tank said, adding that "a full accounting of annual finances and grants" is available on the website.

The Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) provides financial support and seeks to mentor digital-media entities in creating and disseminating public-interest information borne out of serious and independent journalism.

The income tax department launched the raids in multiple states as part of a tax evasion probe against registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) and their alleged dubious funding, official sources said.

The searches are being conducted in Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and some other states, they said. A coordinated action has been launched by the tax department against the RUPPs, their linked entities, operators and others, the sources said.

The surprise action is understood to have been taken by the department on the recommendation of the Election Commission (EC) which recently struck off 87 entities from its list of RUPP after they were found non-existent during physical verification.

The poll panel had announced that it was taking action against more than 2,100 registered unrecognised political parties for flouting rules and election laws, including those related to filing of monetary contributions, failing to update their address and names of office bearers. It had said some of these parties were indulging in "serious" financial impropriety.

However, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh slammed the raids and said, "It's absolutely atrocious that research and advocacy organisations, and independent charitable trusts like CPR, Oxfam and IPSMF have been raided at the behest of Mr Modi and Mr Shah. It's a deliberate move to exterminate all independent media and voices."