"I shall continue to do my journalism," said veteran journalist Rana Ayyub in a statement, after a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against her in Uttar Pradesh last week in connection with her fundraising campaigns.
The FIR has been filed by a group named the 'Hindu IT Cell', and registered under the sections of money laundering, cheating, dishonest misappropriation of property, and criminal breach of trust.
"The Hindu IT Cell has lodged a malicious and baseless FIR against me in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that I have fraudulently taken donations on Ketto for COVID relief work," said Ayyub in a statement posted on Twitter.
"For the record, I wish to inform everyone that the entire donation received through Ketto is accounted for, and not a single paisa has been misused. The receipt of donation did not violate any law," she further added.
"Further I have paid a heavy amount of tax on the donations as directed by the CBDT [Central Board of Direct Taxes], although I believe the donations ought not to be taxed so that more money could be used for relief work."
The Hindu IT Cell has alleged that Ayyub had been "illegally acquiring money from the general public in the name of charity."
The FIR has alluded to three crowdfunding campaigns initiated by Ayyub between April 2020 and June 2021, facilitated by the virtual platform Ketto.
They were launched for the aid of slum dwellers and farmers, relief work for Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra, and help for COVID-10 impacted people of India.
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