UP STF takes PFI leader Rauf Shareef to Noida from Mathura jail

AGRA: UP Special Task Force (STF) took Popular Front of India’s (PFI) student wing leader Rauf Shareef to Noida from Mathura’s temporary jail on Thursday after a court granted them 5-day police custody in a case of alleged funding and stirring unrest in wake of gangrape and murder of Hathras girl.
STF officials told TOI that he will be sent back to jail on February 23 and during this period, the police personnel will interrogate him.Though the STF had sought a 10-day remand of Shareef, the court of additional district and sessions judge Anil Kumar Pandey granted them 5-days only.
Shareef had been brought from Ernakulam jail in Kerala where he was lodged after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in December last year in a money laundering case.
Defence council Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi told TOI that though he opposed the remand plea in the court as the STF had not specified the reason for seeking his custodial interrogation, the court granted 5-day police custody.
“I urged the court to provide a translator for Shareef during the interrogation as he only understands Malayalam and a video recording of the process to ensure no third degree is applied on the accused,” said Chaturvedi, adding that the court however rejected his applications. He added, the court order of granting PCR will be challenged in Allahabad high court on Friday.
According to information, the ED had alleged that Shareef had funded the trip of Siddique Kappan, a Delhi-based Kerala journalist and three others alleged PFI activists to Hathras, where a 19-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered.