The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached 35 immovable properties on 16 October, worth a total of ₹56.56 crore, linked to the banned Muslim organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).
The assets are registered under various trusts, companies, and individuals and the action was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as part of the ongoing case against PFI and others, said the investigative agency.
The seized properties include the Sathya Sarani Educational and Charitable Trust in Kerala’s Malappuram and the Calicut chapter office of the prominent academic body, the Institute of Objective Studies.
According to the ED, all the seized properties are in Kerala.
Earlier also ED has attached multiple properties worth Rs. 5.16 Crore of PFI and its related organisations/ trusts/ individuals. Hence, the total attachment in this case amounts to Rs.61.72 Crore.
In a press release on Friday, ED said that it initiated investigation against the office bearers, members and cadres of Popular Front of India (PFI) under PMLA, 2002 on the basis of various FIRs registered by the NIA, Delhi and other law enforcement agencies.
It further claimed that the “investigation revealed that the office bearers, members and cadres of Popular Front of India (PFI), were conspiring and raising/collecting funds from within India and abroad through banking channels, Hawala, donations etc. for committing and financing terrorist acts across India.”
So far 26 members and cadres of PFI have been arrested by ED and 9 prosecution complaints have been filed in the period February 2021 to May 2024.
42 Muslim men including veteran Muslim leaders, intellectuals and journalists were arrested under draconian UAPA by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its first nationwide clampdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI) on 22 September 2022. Six days later, on 28 September 2023, the Union government banned PFI and its associates including Campus Front of India, Rehab India Foundation, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala. The organisations were declared as “unlawful associations” for a period of five years.
The FIR was registered under section 120B and 153A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and sections 17, 18, 18B, 20, 22B 38 and 39 of the UAPA.
While only a few local leaders were able to achieve bail, the rest of the arrested leaders including aged individuals have spent two years in prison, despite not being convicted in any of the cases.
Several rights groups and Muslim organisations called the Union government ban on Popular Front of India “unconstitutional” and demanded the release of its leaders.
 attached 35 immovable properties on 16 October, worth a total of ₹56.56 crore, linked to the banned Muslim organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).){kind=link}