Indian journalist Rana Ayyub in hot waters over allegations of money laundering

A case of money laundering has been filed against Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, who is vocal against the country's government led by PM Narendra Modi, reported local Indian media.

The Enforcement Directorate has said that Ayyub laundered money collected for social welfare.

Allegedly, the journalist ran three campaigns on a crowdfunding website from where she raised more than INR26 million in 2020.

According to the ED, she received foreign funding without registering with the authorities associated with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA.

FCRA was created to prevent the misuse of foreign donations. The ED alleged that all the donations went first to Ayyub's family's accounts and then to hers, adding that only INR290,000 were used for welfare work.

Ayyub had collected the money at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to help farmers and slum residents in India's Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra. However, the ED believes she was intending to increase her own bank balance.

Ayyub, a prominent critic of BJP, India's ruling party, has denied the allegations and called them a "smear campaign".

"The relief work was carried out with only domestic contributions," Ayyub was quoted as saying by NDTV. She explained that the crowdfunding site Ketto was guided to return "any money received in foreign currency".

Vikas Sankrityayan, the founder of an NGO called "Hindu IT Cell" has registered an FIR against Ayyub in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad Police.