Case registered against 4 NGOs fueling Kudankulam agitators

CHENNAI/DELHI: Tightening the noose on those opposing the Kudankulam nuclear project, the government has registered cases against four NGOs for allegedly diverting funds to fuel protests and deported a German national for assisting the agitators. “Cases have been registered against four NGOs for violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act,” Union Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters here. The action came days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stated that nongovernmental organisations have received support from abroad for leading protests against the much- awaited nuclear power plant. Bank accounts of the four NGOs have been frozen after an inquiry conducted by the Home Ministry reportedly found them diverting funds meant for charity to fuel the protests. The cases were registered by the Crime Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police and the CBI. Earlier, a German national was picked up by Tamil Nadu Police in Nagercoil for allegedly assisting the protests and deported him in the wee hours today. Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49), against whom a ‘look-out notice’ was issued by the Home Ministry, was detained by the police monitoring the anti-KNPP protests after they were alerted by central intelligence agencies. Hermann arrived in India on a tourist visa and had been helping the protesters in contravention of the visa rules which invited the ‘look-out notice’. “He had no business to be in Nagercoil. He had violated all the visa rules and hence we have deported him,” a senior offi cial said. Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49) was detained last night in Nagercoil by a section of Q branch police offi - cials monitoring the anti- KNPP protests after they were alerted by central intelligence agencies, police sources said in Chennai.