ED launches massive anti-terror crackdown on PFI, attaches properties worth Rs 56 crore | DETAILS
ED initiated investigation against the office bearers, members and cadres of Popular Front of India (PFI) under PMLA, 2002 on the basis of various FIRs registered by the NIA, Delhi and other Law Enforcement Agencies.
PFI case: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 35 immovable properties worth Rs 56 crore belonging to the banned radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in the name of various trusts, companies and individuals, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The PFI was banned by the Centre in September 2022 after the ED, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and various state police forces carried out countrywide raids against its office-bearers and establishments.
According to a statement issued by the probe agency on Friday, 19 immovable properties worth Rs 35.43 crore and 16 immovable properties valued at Rs 21.13 crore beneficially owned and controlled by PFI (a total of 35 immovable properties valued at Rs. 56.56 Crore) were attached.
PFI members collecting funds for financing terrorist acts
The ED claimed that its investigation revealed that PFI office bearers, members and cadres were conspiring and raising or collecting funds from within India and abroad through banking channels, hawala, donations and others for committing and financing terrorist acts across India.
According to the probe agency, the funds raised by PFI in India and abroad through unlawful means were allegedly deposited in 29 bank accounts across the country located in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur.
"The funds collected through unlawful means and dummy donors by PFI in cash or through bank account qualified as Proceeds of Crime which amounts to Rs 94 Crore," the ED claimed.
The ED further said that so far 26 members and cadres of PFI have been arrested by them and nine prosecution complaints have been filed in the period February 2021 to May 2024.
Over 13,000 active PFI members in Singapore and Gulf nations
The federal probe agency said that the investigation has revealed that PFI had more than 13,000 active members in Singapore and Gulf countries including Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"The PFI has formed well-defined District Executive Committees (DECs) for the Non-Resident Muslim diaspora living in the Gulf Countries, which was tasked with the collection of funds. Each DEC was given a target of several crores of rupees for funds collection. The funds which were raised abroad were transferred to India through circuitous banking channels, as well as through underground hawala channels so that their origins could not be traced and thereafter handed over to PFI and its office bearers to finance their terrorist and unlawful activities," the agency said.
Real objectives of PFI
According to the ED, the investigation has revealed that the real objectives of PFI are different from the ones stated in its constitution. The real objectives of PFI include the formation of an organization for carrying out an Islamic movement in India through Jihad, though PFI masquerades itself as a social movement. PFI claimed the use of non-violent forms of protest but evidence reveals that the methods of protest employed by them are violent in nature.
Some of the methods of protest used by them as found during the investigation are explained as under:
- Steps for preparation for a Civil War by creating unrest and strife in the society: It includes Non-violent air raids, Guerrilla Theater, Alternative Communication Systems etc
- Methods of cruelty and subjugation: It includes Haunting Officials, Taunting Officials, Fraternization, Mock Funerals, Interdict, Lysistratic Non-Action (Lysistratic non-action is to withhold sex from someone in order to achieve something) etc.
- Methods employed for undermining unity and sovereignty of the nation: It includes Civil Disobedience of Laws, Dual sovereignty, and parallel Government, disclosing identities of secret agents.
- Economic Threat: It includes employing the tactics of politically motivated counterfeiting, preclusive purchasing, nonviolent land seizure, seizure of assets, Selective patronage, dumping etc.