The Enforcement Directorate has made a huge revelation regarding the banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and said that it received cash worth crores of rupees from Gulf countries through Hawala channels, and the money was deposited in the accounts associated with its supporters to convert black money into white, and was later transferred into the account of the PFI. Notably, there are several supporters of PFI in the Gulf countries from where crores of rupees were deposited in the name of donations.
ED arrests 5 people
Central probe agency ED has arrested five people associated with PFI, who held different positions in the banned outfit. They were allegedly using the money received through foreign hawala in anti-national activities. The arrested individuals were identified as EM Abdul Rehman, Anees Ahmed, Afsar Pasha, AS Ismail and Mohammad Shaqif.
In the ECIR registered on May 2, 2018, all the five accused were interrogated by ED in Delhi's Tihar Jail recently on December 19. This inquiry was done on the basis of different bank account details of the organisation recovered during the raid on PFI locations on 3 December 2020.
All the accused were the signing authorities of the bank accounts of the organisation located in different cities. All of them were questioned about the money trail of crores of rupees in bank accounts, but they were arrested for not giving satisfactory answers and hiding the facts.
Roles of arrested persons in PFI
EM Abdul Rahman: He was associated with PFI since its inception and held different positions over the years. He played an important role in every major action and decision of PFI. Rehman was associated with the terrorist organisation SIMI i.e. Student Islamic Movement of India from 1979 to 1984.
After that, when the organisation was banned, he was the General Secretary of the new organisation formed in the name of PFI from 2007 to 2008, and Chairman of PFI from 2009 to 2012.
Until the organisation was banned, he was also the Vice Chairman of the PFI National Executive Council, which took every major decision. Abdul Rahman visited Turkey and several African countries several times with other members of the outfit. From 2015 to 2020, PFI was also the signing authority for the organisation's bank accounts in Kalka Ji, Delhi and Syndicate Bank located in Kozhikode.
Anees Ahmed: He had an important role in the financial matters of PFI. He held the position of the National Secretary of the organisation from 2018 to 2020 and his responsibility was to collect funds. He was also the spokesperson of the PFI. The outfit used to deposit funds at the state level, there was a district committee in every district of the states, which when the funds were deposited, were deposited in the account of the state level committee, which was later deposited in the account of the national committee.
The funds collected from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh were deposited directly into the organisation's account.
Afsar Pasha: Pasha held various important positions at the national level in PFI, and was the zonal president of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
He was also the National Secretary of PFI and his opinion was important in every financial matter of the organisation. From 2009 to 2010, he was the General Secretary of the Karnataka unit of PFI. He played an important role in the communal riots that took place in Mysore in 2009. He had participated in the Jail Bharo protest that started the riots there. The organisation had the signing authority in the PFI account at Corporation Bank in Fraser Town, Bangalore.
AS Ismail: He is one of the founder members of PFI and has been the President of the North Zone of the organisation from 2018 to 2020. He had been a member of the National Executive Council of PFI and also played an important role in every financial matter of the outfit. PFI had the signing authority for its account in Punjab National Bank located at Mylapore RH Road, Chennai.
Mohammad Shaqif: He also held Held important positions in PFI in Karnataka from state level to national level and was the State President in Karnataka from 2016 to 2020. He was the member of the National Executive Council.
All these accused were interrogated by showing different bank accounts, digital evidence and other documents of the organisation recovered during the raid in the year 2020. They have been arrested after contradictions were found in the recorded statements.
