E-Paper
PFI raids: Culmination of series of cases registered over last 2 years
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have probed multiple cases in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and other states with direct or indirect links with PFI
The coordinated raids on premises of Popular Front of India (PFI) and its over 100 top functionaries is a culmination of a series of cases registered in the last two years over the organisation’s dubious funding patterns and the alleged involvement of its members in “anti-national activities”, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have probed multiple cases in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and other states with direct or indirect links with PFI. They have shared their findings with Union home minister Amit Shah, who has asked the agencies to closely follow every link related to the outfit.
On Thursday, NIA led the raids across 11 states including Tamil Nadu, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan. Over 100 top leaders and office bearers, including PFI’s chairman, OMA Salam, have been taken into custody.
The PFI is facing probes including for its role in fuelling anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests before the 2020 Delhi riots. Its leaders Abdul Razzak Peediyakkal and Ashraf MK (Kerala) face money laundering charges. The PFI is also accused of trying to create unrest in Bihar’s Phulwari Sharif, etc.
The ED said in June that it has attached ₹68.62 lakh bank deposits of the PFI and the Rehab India Foundation (RIF) linked to it. It cited its probe and said PFI and RFI received huge amounts of money including in cash from “questionable sources”. ED said ₹60 crore were deposited in the accounts of PFI and this includes cash deposits of over ₹30 crore since 2009. “Similarly, around ₹58 crore have been deposited in the accounts of RIF since 2010.”
The ED said “proceeds of crime” mobilised in the form of cash were deposited in PFI’s bank accounts by falsely projecting them as donations from sympathisers and members. “...to obliterate the fund trail and circumvent the regulatory rigour, proceeds of crime were mobilised in the form of cash and deposited by PFI leaders in the bank accounts of various individuals and immediately thereafter these funds were transferred from bank accounts to PFI’s bank account,” the ED said in June.
The ED said it found PFI’s funding links in Gulf countries, where funds were “clandestinely” sent to India through underground and illegal channels via foreign remittances into the bank accounts of the organisation’s sympathisers, office bearers, members and their relatives and associates in India.
In November 2021, the ED filed a charge sheet against PFI, naming Atikur Rahman, Masud Ahmed, journalist Sidhique Kappan, Mohammad Alam, and KA Rauf Sherif. The agency cited its probe and said over ₹100 crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI over the years including in cash.
PFI is a successor of the National Democratic Front (NDF), which was founded in Kerala’s Kozhikode in 1989 following political clashes. Martial arts training centres came come up in Kozhikode for the Muslim youth and the NDF took shape there. Babri Masjid demolition provided an impetus to Muslim organisations in Kerala to form resistance groups to meet the challenges from the Sangh Parivar, according to a 2017 NIA dossier on PFI.
The 19-page dossier said most of the NDF’s founding members were ex-Students’ Islamic Movement of India members, who wanted an effective platform for their “radical ideology”. The PFI’s formation was announced in 2006 in Bengaluru. It has since spread to Manipur, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. PFI also has a strong presence in Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
