Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising refute connection with PFI

Congress leader Kapil Sibal and senior advocates Indira Jaising and Dushyant Dave’s response came on the day the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a note submitted to the home ministry, said the Kerala-based outfit mobilised cash for organising the unrest.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal and senior advocates Indira Jaising and Dushyant Dave on Monday denied receiving funds from the controversial Popular Front of India (PFI) in relation to the countrywide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA.

Jaising and Sibal have refuted the charges claims by Enforcement Directorate of taking money from PFI.(Photo: Hindustan Times)

Their response came on the day the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a note submitted to the home ministry, said the Kerala-based outfit mobilised cash for organising the unrest. HT has seen the note.

In its note, the agency referred to alleged payments made from PFI’s accounts on various occasions to Sibal, Jaising, Dave, one Abdul Samad, a private entity and the outfit’s Kashmir unit.

An ED official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, later clarified that the payments made to Sibal and the others were part of PFI’s “overall bank account details”, and “not linked to CAA”.

The agency’s note said PFI’s account statements revealed payments of ~77 lakh to Sibal, adding that Jaising received ~4 lakh, Dave ~11 lakh and Samad ~3.10 lakh. The note didn’t mention the dates for the payments.

Sibal said, “The CAA became law only in December 2019. In all matters in which I have appeared in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of CAA, I have not raised, till date, any invoice in the matter.”

He said the amount paid to him was litigation fees for appearing in the Supreme Court for Hadiya in a case related to her marriage with Shafin Jahan. On March 8, 2018, the SC overruled a Kerala high court order that annulled the marriage of Hadiya, born a Hindu, to her Muslim husband.

Dave, too, said the only case he could recollect where a Muslim organisation was involved was Hadiya’s.

Jaising denied that she received money from PFI in relation to anti-CAA protests or for any other reason.

A second ED official said the agency initiated an enquiry into PFI’s accounts last month on the directions of the central government after Uttar Pradesh sought a ban on the outfit and claimed its involvement in UP protests .

“The money trail has proved beyond doubt that PFI has mobilised the money to finance the cost of demonstration/gherao against CAA Bill [now an Act] till 06.01.2020. Further investigation to trace money trail from other bank accounts is continuing,” the note added.

PFI termed the allegations “baseless”, and an attempt by the Centre to link it to anti-CAA protests. “... Attributing a fees transfer that happened in 2017 as a funding for 2019 CAA protest is totally absurd and exposes the intention to defame Popular Front,” PFI general secretary Mohd Ali Jinnah said.