PFI financially helped anti-CAA protests: Sources quote ED finding

Kerala-based Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) has allegedly provided financial support to fuel anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Uttar Pradesh, reported news agency PTI quoting sources on Monday (January 27). The northern state witnessed major violence during a series of such protests last month.

Quoting official sources, it said the Enforcement Directorate has found “financial link” between the outfit and the anti-CAA protests. The agency, which is probing the PFI under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2018, has found at least ₹120 crore were deposited in bank accounts in western Uttar Pradesh after the Act was passed late last year.

It is suspected and alleged that these funds were used by PFI affiliates to fuel anti-CAA protests in various parts of UP, sources said, citing the findings of the Enforcement Directorate probe report. They said the ED has shared these findings with the Union home ministry.

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The PFI was formed in 2006 in Kerala as a successor to the National Democratic Front (NDF). The UP police had also recently sought a ban on the PFI, days after its complicity was suspected in the statewide violent protests against the amended citizenship law. Nearly 20 people had died during these protests.

The ED, sources said, found the funds deposited in bank were also routed from some foreign shores and were sent in the accounts of certain investment firms. A National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) FIR and chargesheet against the PFI had formed the basis for the ED to file a PMLA case against it.

 (With inputs from agencies)

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