The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted raids at 26 locations linked to Popular Front of India (PFI), including six in Kerala, five in Tamil Nadu, four in West Bengal, three in Karnataka, two each in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and one each in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
The searches are a culmination of the multiple investigations launched by the ED into the various money laundering cases against the outfit and its associated entities. Sources in the agency said that since many complaints are simultaneously under investigation by different branches of the ED across the country, the cases have been clubbed together for the purpose of investigations during the ongoing searches.
According to sources, the raids were conducted at Kochi, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala; Chennai, Madurai and Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu; Kolkata and Murshidabad in West Bengal; Bengaluru in Karnataka; Shaheen Bagh in Delhi; Lucknow and Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, Purnea and Darbhanga in Bihar; Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Jaipur in Rajasthan .
According to the ongoing ED investigations, as many as 73 bank accounts linked to the outfit, its related entity and certain individuals in 17 different banks have been detected by the agency and the chain of flow of money in these accounts is under scrutiny.
So far, the ED sources said, a scrutiny of transactions had revealed that Rs 120.5 crore was credited in these bank accounts which was withdrawn on the same day or within two to three days leaving very nominal balance.
The mode of deposits in these bank accounts was mainly cash deposit, NEFT and IMPS transactions.
The ED officials are also probing an amount of Rs 50 lakh credited in the bank account of one of the entities from three foreign sources even though the Indian entity did not have FCRA registration.
Statements of several persons belonging to the outfit and its entities have been recorded by the ED so far and according to the agency officials none of them has been able to explain about the specific source of funds and dispersal areas.
According to investigators, in many accounts, the amount is credited through cash deposits or bank transfers and immediately withdrawn in cash or transferred to other accounts. “High flow of credits and debits are seen with long dormant period followed by sudden spurt in transactions,” said an ED official.
The ED sources said highly disproportionate cash deposits and withdrawals are seen in many accounts which has prompted the agency to investigate further. The ED has been looking into the suspected financial links of the outfit with the anti-CAA protests, alleged fuelling of Delhi riots and other cases.
Meanwhile, the PFI and its chairman O.M. Abdul Salam called the raids a gimmick and an attempt to divert attention from the farmers' issue.
"Simultaneous raids were carried out by ED at the houses of Popular Front national leaders across the country. We believe this to be a politically motivated action from the part of the agency. Such raids usually happen in our country whenever the government in power comes under the pressure of popular anger and it wants to divert national attention from it."
"Modi government has always used national agencies against its political opponents and to crush dissent in the country to the point that the credibility of these agencies has come under question," the organisation said in a statement.
With inputs from PTI
