• News
  • City News
  • lucknow News
  • 11-Pathikrit-State-PFI members wanted to disturb communal Arrested PFI members tried to disturbcommunal harmony in Hathras: ED
This story is from February 12, 2021

11-Pathikrit-State-PFI members wanted to disturb communal Arrested PFI members tried to disturbcommunal harmony in Hathras: ED

11-Pathikrit-State-PFI members wanted to disturb communal Arrested PFI members tried to disturbcommunal harmony in Hathras: ED
Lucknow: The Lucknow unit of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) against five Popular Front of India (PFI) men for getting finances from abroad to help their alleged bid to disturb communal harmony in Hathras after alleged gang rape of a dalit girl which led to her death in September 2020.
Four of them, including Kerala journalist Siddiqui Kappan, were arrested in Mathura in October 2020 on their way to Hathras a few days after the girl's death.
The fifth, Rauf Sherif, was arrested in December at Trivandrum airport.
As per the ED's PC, while Kappan and Masud Ahamd are members of PFI, the other person arrested along with them -- Atiq-ur-Rahman -- are members of PFI's student wing, Campus Front of India. The fourth person arrested from Mathura, Mohammad Alam, was driving the car they were travelling in. He was also an active participant in the conspiracy, the ED says
Sherif, who was detained by the authorities at Trivandrum airport in December last year and brought to UP by STF, is the general secretary of CFI.
Special Judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma on Thursday took cognizance of their offence under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A prosecution complaint by ED is similar to a chargesheet filed by the police. It is a final report before the trial court, which has to take cognisance of the report and start the trial, said the ED officials.
All four arrested from Mathura have been booked for sedition, raising funds for the purpose of committing a terrorist act under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, spreading enmity between religions, and other charges.

As per the ED sources, it surfaced during the probe that Rauf Sherif had received a sum of Rs 1.36 crore from PFI members based in Oman and Qatar. He acquired and possessed proceeds of crime from abroad in his bank accounts, they say.
It has been further alleged that the accused also acquired lands, vehicles and other properties and also transferred money to the other four accused arrested from Maant, said the ED.
The agency officials also said that during the probe it surfaced that Sherif was the main conspirator of handling funds from abroad and also disbursed the funds to Masud Ahmed and Atiq-ur-Rehman. Proceeds of the crime was generated through schedule offence under PMLA and the funds were used by Rauf Sherif and his associates, the ED said.
The ED also said that there are specific allegations against Atiq-ur-Rahman that he took active part in a conspiracy hatched by Sherif to visit Hathras with other accused to disturb communal harmony.
Masud was the general secretary of Delhi state PFI and was in regular touch with Sherif and took part and received money generated from criminal activities in his bank accounts.
Similarly, Siddiqui Kappan was also involved in crime and he transferred funds to the bank account of Atiq-Ur-Rehman. Mohammed Alam, was driving the car bought in the name of Masud. He took an active part in a conspiracy hatched by Sherif, the ED said.
"About 15 days prior to their visit of Hathras, the car was purchased for Rs 2.25 lakh," the ED said. “Based on the above allegation, the prosecution complaint was filed in PMLA court of special judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma,” said a senior ED official.
The ED sleuths also examined the website ‘Justice for Hathras’ and conducted enquiries from the domain servers about the details of money collected and utilised. It also examined the ultimate beneficiaries of money collected by this website.
They had also sought data traffic analysis from Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for tracing the first IP resolution. The ED sources told TOI that PFI was under the scanner since 2018.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA