As part of the widespread clampdown on the leaders of movement against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Uttar Pradesh police has obtained the custody of Rauf Shereef, national general secretary of Campus Front of Inida (CFI), claimed CFI national committee on Wednesday.
Rauf Shareef, national leader of CFI, a student wing of the Popular Front of India (PFI) was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in December 2020. According to ED, the CFI leader allegedly “provided financial support to incite communal disharmony in Uttar Pradesh” after rape and murder of Dalit woman in Hathras.
“Rauf Shereef was arrested by Enforcement Directorate alleging money laundering. Since, ED failed to find out any evidence against him, the BJP is using UP police as part of the conspiracy to link him in Hathras case. UP police has a spiteful track record being a torturing agency of RSS. In numerous cases they have vengefully harassed innocent persons, regularly invoking draconian laws and putting them behind bars,” reads Campus Front of India’s official statement.
CFI also said UP police is biased and it has a track record of targeting critics with false accusations.
Earlier, a Campus Front of India delegation on the way to Hathras to meet the family of the Dalit girl who was raped and murdered, was arrested along with Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan by Uttar Pradesh Police on grave charges and slapped with draconian UAPA.
“The Modi regime witnessed the unprecedented abuse of the police forces and investigative agencies to silence the democratic dissent in the country. Scores of student activists were arrested on baseless charges and put behind bars indefinitely,” CFI said.
According to CFI, the BJP government has announced the implementation of CAA and it is ruthlessly hunting after every voice of dissent in order to clear the scene before coming up with the divisive law for the second time.
“CFI, being an organisation at the forefront of anti CAA NRC movement, has been subject to this callous witch-hunt,” it pointed.
It also said that the witch-hunt against leaders of CFI is a part of the larger conspiracy hatched by RSS to unleash the reign of terror in the country and crumble our democratic order.
The students body’s national leadership demanded the people to come forward to resist the RSS plot and voice for justice to all political prisoners.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, while Opposing the bail plea of Shareef, the ED told Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act, that the foreign remittances received by Sharif were of a highly suspicious nature and appear to have been routed to his account disguised as payments related to international trade.
“It is evident that PFI and its associated organisations like Campus Front of India (CFI), of which Sharif is the national general secretary, have been continuously involved in the offence of money laundering and have been using the proceeds of crime for committing unlawful activities across India,” the central agency told court.
ED also said to court that Shareef had transferred funds to CFI national treasurer Ateeq Ur Rehman arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police who was travelling to Hathras, “to disturb social harmony and to incite communal riots.”
The court posted the bail application for January 12.
Dismissing the allegations as baseless, Popular Front of India national secretary Nasarudheen Elamaram on Tuesday alleged the ED was being used as a tool by the BJP-led government at the Centre to corner their political opponents.
In a statement issued on December 26, the PFI had said the fund received in its bank accounts were donations from the public, which is open before the agencies and accounted everything to the penny.
 and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Uttar Pradesh police has obtained the custody of Rauf Shereef, national general secretary of Campus Front of Inida (CFI), claimed CFI national committee on Wednesday.){kind=link}