ED attaches 19 assets valued at Rs 35.43 crore of Popular Front of India

New Delhi [India], October 18 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 19 immovable properties valued at Rs 35.43 crore beneficially owned and controlled by 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), 2002, the agency said on Friday. The agency attached these properties on October 16.

Earlier, it had also attached 16 immovable properties valued at Rs 21.13 crore on April 16. A total of 35 immovable properties valued at Rs 56.56 in the Popular Front of India (PFI) and Ors case has been attached by the agency so far.

ED initiated an investigation against the office bearers, members and cadres of PFI under PMLA, 2002, on the basis of various FIRs registered by the National Investigaton Agency, Delhi and other law enforcement agencies.

Investigation revealed that the office bearers, members and cadres of PFI were conspiring and raising and collecting funds from within India and abroad through banking channels, hawala and donations for committing and financing terrorist acts across India, said the ED.

“Funds raised by PFI in India and abroad by using unlawful means were deposited in 29 bank accounts of PFI 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 accounts qualified as proceeds of crime, which amount to Rs 94 crore,” said the ED.

So far, 26 members and cadres of PFI have been arrested by ED and nine prosecution complaints have been filed in the period February 2021 to May 2024.

ED said its 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 UAE.

PFI has formed well defined District Executive Committees (DECs) for the non-resident Muslim diaspora living in the Gulf Countries, which were tasked with the collection of funds.

“Each DEC was given a target of several crores of rupees for fund collection. The funds that 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.”

As per the ED, its investigation has revealed that the real objectives of PFI are different from the ones stated in its constitution.

“Real objectives of PFI include the formation of an organisation for carrying out an Islamic movement in India through Jihad, though PFI masquerades itself as a social movement. PFI claimed use of non-violent forms of protest but evidences reveal that the methods of protest employed by them are violent in nature,” the federal agency mentioned.

Some of the methods of protest used by them, as found during the investigation, are steps for preparation for a civil war by creating unrest and strife in society, which includes non-violent air raids, guerrilla theatre, and alternative and communication systems, said the ED.

Methods of cruelty and subjugation are among PFI’s other methods, which include haunting officials, taunting officials, fraternisation, mock funerals, interdict, and lysistratic non-action (lysistratic non-action is to withhold sex from someone in order to achieve something), it stated.

Methods employed for undermining unity and sovereignty of the nation include civil disobedience of laws, dual sovereignty, and parallel government, disclosing identities of secret agents, said the agency, adding “economic threat was another method of the PFI, which includes employing the tactics of politically motivated counterfeiting, preclusive purchasing, nonviolent land seizure, seizure of assets, selective patronage and dumping.”

The agency claimed that the PFI was giving arms training under the garb of Physical Education (PE) classes for imparting offensive and defensive manoeuvres using different variations of blows, punches, kicks, and knife and stick attacks. “These classes were carried out on the properties registered under dummy owners’ names. Interestingly, PFI does not have a single property registered in its own name.”

“One such case of conducting arms training under the garb of PE classes was the Narath Arms Camp case in 2013, wherein PFI was imparting training to its cadres in the use of explosives and weapons in an arms camp at Narath, in Kannur District. The intention was to promote enmity between different religions and prepare the cadres for terrorist activities,” said the ED.