The Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associated organisations such as the Campus Front of India have been continuously involved in money laundering and using the proceeds of the crime for committing unlawful activities across the country, according to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
K.A. Rauf Sherief, national general secretary of the Campus Front of India, has received foreign remittance, which was of highly suspicious nature, the ED said in the statement opposing his bail application.
The funds, the agency said, were routed to his account in the guise of payments related to international trade. During the recording of his statements, he said he received around ₹40 lakh to ₹50 lakh in his bank account in the form of foreign remittance in addition to the ₹50 lakh he had earlier received. However, he could not give any plausible explanation for receiving the money, the ED submitted.
The agency said the contention of the petitioner that the foreign remittance was on account of the commission/dividends for trading of masks was not substantiated with any evidence.
The agency said the propensity of Mr. Sherief to conceal/tamper with/destroy evidence was evident from the fact that he had handed over his laptops, iPad and pen drives to his brother Salman Sherief before leaving for the airport in an attempt to flee the country. Though the department had issued summons to Mr. Salman to produce the digital evidence, he did not not comply with it at the first instance, it said. After being served with another summons, Mr. Salman appeared before the department with an iPad and a laptop. Later, he submitted another laptop. However, it was found that one of the laptops and an iPad produced were blocked, it said.
It was clear that Rauf Sherief tried to conceal and tamper with the evidence contained in the digital devices with the help of his brother, it was alleged.
The agency denied the contention of the accused that he was falsely implicated.
The court posted the bail application for January 12.
