New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Arunachal Pradesh-based lawyer and activist Bhanu Tatak for allegedly receiving foreign funds for research projects “without obtaining mandatory certification of registration”, alleging it was in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).A legal adviser to the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF) and coordinator with Dibang Resistance, a civil society organisation, Tatak is one of the leading faces in the protests against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), a proposed 12,500-megawatt power project on Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang river. She has also been spearheading protests against a 2,880-megawatt power project on the Dibang river.Scroll reported that as per the CBI’s first information report, Tatak allegedly received more than Rs 17.6 lakh from “different foreign organisations and individuals directly into her personal savings bank account” for her research projects between 2022-2025. These reportedly included foreign entities such as the 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 also 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. Further, it 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”, per the report.Villagers in the Siang district have been protesting since 2024 against the SUMP and the deployment of armed forces in the area to implement the project. During a dharna in May last year, protesters also burnt down a hanging bridge to prevent the army from entering the village.Also read: ‘We Will Die For Our Lands’: Villagers in Arunachal’s Siang District Protest Against Mega Dam PlanLocal communities’ demands have been consistent and clear: they do not want a dam in the area for several reasons, prime among them being that the dam will submerge homes, villages and agricultural lands – it poses an existential threat to them.During the protests in December 2024, Tatak had told The Wire that the survey for the pre-feasibility report for the dam project being implemented by the state government and authorities against the consent of local communities was “unconstitutional and unethical”.In September 2025, Tatak was stopped by the immigration authorities from boarding a flight to Ireland at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, based on a lookout circular issued against her by Arunachal Pradesh police. She was scheduled to attend a three-month academic programme at Dublin City University. At the time, the activist had said she was “wrongfully charged and incarcerated”.Though she was later released, Tatak had missed her flight to Dublin. In a social media post, she had described the travel ban as part of an “arbitrary abuse of administrative power”, which she claimed was increasingly being normalised in India.Several lawyers and activists have been targeted before for supporting the villagers’ movements against hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh.