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Arunachal environmental activist booked by CBI for allegedly receiving illegal foreign funds
Bhanu Tatak has been protesting against the Siang Multipurpose Project, a proposed 12,500-megawatt power unit on the Siang river in the state.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a case against Arunachal Pradesh-based lawyer and environmental activist Bhanu Tatak for allegedly receiving funds from abroad in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
Tatak is a legal adviser to the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum and the coordinator of civil society organisation Dibang Resistance. The CBI alleged that she received foreign contributions for research projects between 2022-’25 in violation of the Act.
She and the organisations have been protesting against the Siang Multipurpose Project, a proposed 12,500-megawatt power project on Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang river. The organisation Dibang resistance has also been protesting against a 2,880-megawatt power project on the Dibang river.
The CBI has alleged in its first information report, seen by Scroll, that Tatak had received more than Rs 17.6 lakh in funds from “different foreign organisations and individuals directly into her personal savings bank account without obtaining mandatory certification of registration” under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
The central agency has alleged that Tatak received the funds from foreign entities such as Philippines-based Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy and Indigenous Peoples Rights International, Ireland-based Front Line and United Kingdom-based Human Rights Resource Centre.
The CBI claimed that Tatak has never filed income tax returns and that the foreign funds that she allegedly received were not reflected in any official records.
The central agency further alleged that the funds were “being utilised to organise and sustain anti-dam protests” in Arunachal Pradesh “thereby adversely affecting economic and strategic interests of the country”.
Tatak did not comment on the matter when contacted by Scroll. This article will be updated if she responds.
Tatak told the Hindustan Times that the matter was under investigation and that she was cooperating with the authorities. “I am a law-abiding citizen and have committed no violation of the law,” she told the newspaper.
The Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum has alleged that the Siang Multipurpose Project poses an existential threat to the indigenous community, the Adi tribe.
In September 2025, Tatak was stopped by the immigration authorities from boarding a flight to Ireland at the Delhi airport based on a lookout circular issued against her by Arunachal Pradesh Police. The circular is used by law enforcement authorities to check whether a person leaving the country is wanted by the police.
Tatak was scheduled to attend a three-month academic programme at Dublin City University. At that time, the activist had described the travel ban as part of an “arbitrary abuse of administrative power”, which she claimed was increasingly being normalised in India under pressure from corporate interests.
Such actions risk undermining the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, she had said on social media.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande and Nachiket Deuskar.