News Analysis India

Tag: Popular Front of India

  • UP ATS takes arrested PFI activists on 7-day remand, slaps UAPA, treason cases

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: The Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged a fresh FIR against the two PFI members — Anshad Badruddin and Firoz Khan — invoking the sections pertaining to treason here on Wednesday. The other sections slapped on the duo include those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), criminal conspiracy, Arms Act, and Explosives Act. As per the sources, UP ATS produced both the PFI activists in a local court in Lucknow and took them into its remand for a week. 

    The ATS sleuths are also planning to take the remand of recently arrested PFI general secretary — K Rauf Sharif from Kerala who was brought to Mathura jail over his alleged role in fomenting unrest in the state during Hathras gangrape and murder case. It may be recalled that five PFI members are already in lodged in Mathura jail allegedly for fomenting trouble in the state during the infamous Hathras case and the subsequent nationwide outrage over it.

    As per the police sources, during the last one year, UP Police have arrested 123 PFI activists in connection with various cases including anti-CAA protests.

    ALSO READ | PFI members arrested with explosive devices in UP, planned to execute blasts across state

    Both Badruddin and Firoz, the natives of Kerala, were arrested by the UP Special Task Force (STF) in a joint operation with central agencies in Lucknow on Tuesday evening. The cops had seized huge amount of explosives, weapons, and live cartridges from the possession of the two fugitives who later confessed to their plan of executing bomb blasts across UP.

    Sources claimed that the ATS wanted to interrogate Badruddin, Firoz, and Rauf together. According to ADG (Law & Order) Prashant Kumar, while Anshad Badruddin was identified as the national head of the PFI’s ‘Hit Squad’, Firoz was the national trainer on bomb-making. The ADG had also said that both the PFI members were black belts in martial arts and had confessed to having the task to target at least 20 to 25 RSS leaders within the next few months across India.

    Their immediate task was to trigger blasts across Lucknow on the occasion of Vasant Panchami on Tuesday (February 16, 2021).

    The police sources did not deny the possibility of foreign funding for the execution of the plan in UP. The police have also recovered a list of prominent Hindu organisations and their leaders. Documents in Malayalam were also recovered from the possession of the duo, said the police sources, adding that both had distributed explosives to their contacts in the state capital before being arrested from Picnic Spot Road on Lucknow outskirts.

    ADG Kumar had said that the arrests were made following specific tip-offs about a plan to trigger blasts in different parts of the state. “We got specific leads that the two had reached Lucknow on February 11 and a manhunt was launched. We activated our informers’ network and finally zeroed in on the two onTuesday,” the ADG had said. He had added that the two were also involved in brainwashing gullible youths against the government and then train them in handling weapons and explosives.

  • PFI members arrested with explosive devices in UP, planned to execute blasts across state

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: In a major crackdown, Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UP STF) in a joint operation with central agencies arrested two members of Popular Front of India (PFI) in Lucknow on Tuesday night. As per the police sources, both were coming from Kerala and had plans to execute bomb blasts across Uttar Pradesh.

    The arrests were made on Picnic Spot Road on Lucknow outskirts. Powerful improvised explosive devices (IED) were recovered from the possession of the two identified as Anshad Badruddin and Firoz Khan, both natives of Kerala.

    According to ADG, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, in all 16 explosive devices, batteries and detonators, a pistol and live cartridges were recovered from the possession of the alleged fugitives. However, the two had confessed to their plan of executing multiple blasts across Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh to mark the ‘Popular Front Day’ – the foundation day of their outfit which falls on February 17.

    Moreover, a dozen railway tickets, four ATM cards, two driving licenses, metro rail card, pen drives were also recovered by the STF sleuths. ADG Prashant Kumar, while briefing the media persons about the crackdown, claimed that both Anshad and Firoz, the black belts in martial arts, had confessed to having the task to target at least 20 to 25 RSS leaders within the next few months across India.

    While Anshad is identified as the national head of the PFI’s ‘Hit Squad’, Firoz is the national trainer of PFI on making bombs, said the ADG, Law & Order. “We will take both the arrested PFI office bearers in remand and interrogate them further over their plans and also the presence of explosive devices,” he added.

    ADG Kumar said that the arrests were made following specific tip-offs about a plan to trigger blasts in different parts of the state. “We got specific leads that the two had reached Lucknow on February 11 and a manhunt was launched. We activated our informers’ network and finally zeroed in on the two on Tuesday,” ADG Law and Order said. He added that the two were also involved in brainwashing gullible youths against the government and then train them in handling weapons and explosives.

  • ED files first chargesheet against PFI; claims it wanted to spread terror after Hathras rape case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has filed its first chargesheet against Popular Front of India and its students’ wing on money laundering charges, claiming its members wanted to “incite communal riots and spread terror” in the aftermath of the last year Hathras gang rape case.

    The central agency has been probing the Popular Front of India (PFI), formed in 2006 in Kerala and headquartered in Delhi, since 2018.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently started investigations into the Islamic organisations’ alleged role in “funding” anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests and the communal riots which took place in Delhi last year.

    The prosecution complaint or chargesheet was filed before a special PMLA court in Lucknow on Wednesday under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    Those named include PFI member and students’ wing Campus Front of India’s (CFI) national general secretary K A Rauf Sherif, CFI national treasurer Atikur Rahman, Delhi CFI general secretary Masud Ahmed, a journalist “associated with PFI” Siddique Kappan, and Mohammed Alam, who is a member of the CFI and the PFI.

    The special court took cognisance of the ED chargesheet and issued summons to the five accused for appearing before it on March 18 and face trial, official sources said on Thursday.

    Rauf was arrested by the ED from an airport in Kerala in December last year while he was “trying to flee the country”.

    The rest four were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in Mathura last year while they were on their way to Hathras after the alleged gangrape and death of a Dalit woman in that district.

    The ED claimed in a statement issued here that the four were going to “disturb communal harmony, incite violence and spread terror.”

    A fresh PMLA case was filed by the ED against PFI operatives on the basis of a Uttar Pradesh Police FIR.

    The agency said its probe found “that the visit (to Hathras) of these PFI/CFI members was under the instructions of Rauf Sherif and funds for the same were also provided by him.”

    “ED investigation has established that Rauf Sherif entered into a criminal conspiracy with PFI members stationed in Gulf countries to fraudulently transfer money raised/collected abroad by PFI in the guise of payments related to business transactions,” it said.

    “The money was laundered through different layers and eventually reached Rauf Sherif and his associates belonging to PFI and CFI,” the ED said.

    Calling these funds of Rs 1.36 crore as “proceeds of crime, the agency said that it was obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to criminal conspiracy.

    Part of the funds was used by PFI and CFI office bearers, members, activists in India “for their continuous unlawful activities over the time which included, but were not limited to, funding of anti-CAA protests, inciting violence and fomenting trouble which led to Delhi riots in the month of February, 2020, and in respect to the more specific incident investigated in this chargesheet that is the purported visit of PFI/CFI to Hathras with an intent to disturb communal harmony, incite communal riots and spread terror”, the ED said.

    It alleged that Kappan took “active part in the conspiracy (in Hathras) as he had relations with PFI and was involved in use of proceeds of crime and transferred funds into the bank account of Rahman.”

    The car used by these four to travel to Hathras was purchased in cash with “crime money” of Rs 2.25 lakh about 10-15 days prior to their visit, the ED said.

    The agency claimed that a “part of proceeds of crime was projected as untainted money and used for purchase of land and was thus parked to enable future use by PFI/CFI.”

    The ED alleged that funds of “over Rs 100 crore have been deposited in accounts of PFI over the years, and a very large part of the same has been deposited in cash.”

    The source and disbursal of these funds is under investigation, it said.

    “PFI has been continuously indulging in various scheduled offences under the PMLA ever since the Narath (Kannur) arms training case of 2013 investigated by the NIA in which members of PFI/SDPI were convicted of organising a terrorist camp and entering into criminal conspiracy to impart training to the youth in use of explosives and weapons, with an intention to prepare them for terrorist activities,” the ED said in its statement.

    It claimed that the “involvement of PFI and its related organisations in the commission of such scheduled offences and the money transfers and cash deposits have significantly increased since the said incident in 2013”.

    The PFI has been “involved” in anti-CAA protests and several of its members and activists were also arrested by the Delhi Police in the riots case, the ED said.

    It also charged PFI with “collecting huge amounts of funds abroad through PFI members/activists specifically appointed”, saying targets for collection of foreign funds were fixed.

    “These funds have been remitted to India through hawala and under-ground channels and through remittances sent to the accounts of members/activists/office bearers of PFI and related organisations and also to their family members and associates,” it said.

    “Statutory compliance for collection of funds abroad and their remittance to India have not been done by PFI and its related organisations like Rehab India Foundation (which received around Rs 50 lakh as foreign contribution from abroad) as they are not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976,” the ED said in its charges against PFI.

    Investigation regarding money laundering activities of PFI and its related organisations, and use of funds in various unlawful activities is in progress and supplementary chargesheets shall be filed, it said.

  • Uttar Pradesh court again issues production warrant against Campus Front of India’s Rauf Shareef

    By PTI
    MATHURA: A court here has for the third time issued a warrant for production of Rauf Shareef, a central leader of the Campus Front of India (CFI), in connection with a case of funding and stirring up unrest after the assault and death of a young woman in Hathras.

    On the request of the Uttar Pradesh STF, a ‘B warrant’ was issued by the Additional District and Sessions Judge for the production of the fifth accused, Rauf Shareef, in the court on February 16, district government counsel Shiv Ram Singh said.

    Singh said that on January 16, a similar warrant was issued by Sessions Judge Anil Kumar Pandey for the appearance of Shareef in the court on February 1 but he did not turn up.

    The counsel for Shareef, who is lodged in Ernakulam Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in December in a money laundering case, opposed the STF’s plea. If a person is in jail for more than one offence, a ‘B warrant’ is issued for production in court by jail authorities.

    In a remand report submitted in court in Kerala, the ED had alleged that Shareef, who was the leader of Popular Front of India’s students’ wing, had funded the trip of Sidhique Kappan, a Delhi-based Kerala journalist, and three other alleged PFI activists to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit woman died after being allegedly gang-raped.

    Kappan and the three others were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police in October while they were on their way to Hathras.

    It was alleged they had “ulterior motives of disturbing social harmony and inciting communal riots” and were charged with serious offences including sedition. Meanwhile, their counsel Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi said that the four accused including Kappan have been sent to judicial custody for two more weeks, .