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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached eight more properties worth ₹67.03 crore, alleged to be beneficially owned and controlled by the banned Popular Front of India (PFI). The agency has so far arrested 28 persons in the case. The attached assets are linked to Green Valley Foundation, Alappuzha Social Cultural & Education Trust, Pandalam Educational and Cultural Trust (Pathanamthitta), Islamic Centre Trust (Wayanad), Haritham Foundation (Malappuram), Periyar Valley Charitable Trust (Aluva), Vallavunad Trust (Palakkad), and a land of PFI’s “political front” — Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) — in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, an official said. Watch | What is the Popular Front of India and why has it been controversial? The ED had earlier attached assets worth ₹61.98 crore through nine orders, which have been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), now taking the valuation of total attachments to ₹129 crore. They include 61 immovable properties, 24 bank accounts of PFI, 19 of SDPI, 15 of Multiflor Builders, seven of Rehab India Foundation, and three of key accused K.A. Rauf Sherif. The PMLA probe is based on the cases registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies. As alleged, the office-bearers, members, and cadre of PFI were conspiring and raising funds as part of a “conspiracy to carry out violent and terrorist activities in India to achieve the goal of forming an Islamic nation of India”, the agency alleged. Accusing SDPI of being a political front of the proscribed PFI, the ED said the outfit used to control, fund, and supervise SDPI’s day-to-day activities. The funds were collected through its thousands of members in foreign countries, mainly West Asian countries, and sent to India via ‘hawala’ channels. Money was also raised locally in the garb of relief and social activities. Also read: Popular Front of India had over 13,000 active members in Singapore and Gulf countries, says ED Over ₹62 crore was deposited in 29 PFI accounts, with ₹32.07 crore in cash, between May 2009 and May 2022. Similarly, SDPI bank accounts allegedly showed receipt of ₹32 crore, of which ₹22 crore was cash deposits. Funds were channelled through conduit accounts, many cash donations were forged, and several listed donors did not exist or were financially incapable of making the purported contributions. “Money was extorted from several persons, but falsely projected as voluntary donations,” it alleged. The ED has quantified the proceeds of alleged crime as ₹131 crore till now. “So far 28 leaders, members, and cadre of PFI...the arrestees include national president of SDPI M.K. Faizy, the chairman, general secretary, office-bearers, and members of both the national and State executive councils of PFI, as well as ‘physical education’ coordinators and trainers, who were providing weapons training to PFI members and cadre,” it added. “Physical education” training programmes were allegedly being run on various properties, such as Valluvanad House Pattambi and Malabar House (Haritham Foundation), which have now been attached by the ED. The agency alleged that PFI ideologues were former members of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which was the student’s wings of Jamaat-e-Islami. After it was first banned in 2001 and the law enforcement agencies initiated action, senior PFI members, who were then part of National Development Front, “deliberately formed various trusts all across Kerala and registered various properties owned and controlled by PFI under them”. The Union Home Ministry banned PFI on September 28, 2022, under the UAPA for its alleged involvement in terrorism, terrorist financing, targeted killings, and activities jeopardising the country’s integrity and sovereignty.
