NIA searches PFI offices in ‘largest-ever investigation’, over 100 detained nationwide 

September 22, 2022 09:23 pm | Updated June 01, 2023 08:21 am IST

Sealed Popular Front of India party office in Hyderabad on September 22, 2022.

Sealed Popular Front of India party office in Hyderabad on September 22, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI

In a nationwide crackdown, over 100 top leaders and functionaries of the Popular Front of India (PFI) have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate and the police in 11 States.

Among those arrested are 22 from Kerala, 20 each from Karnataka and Maharashtra, 10 from Tamil Nadu, nine from Assam and eight from Uttar Pradesh. The arrests have been on various charges, including alleged terror funding and money laundering. The NIA termed it as the “largest-ever investigation process till date”.

Earlier, on September 20, the PFI had issued a statement condemning the NIA raids in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on September 17. It had called the arrest of its “martial arts” master unjust and alleged that there was a witch-hunt against its members and supporters.

“These raids are part of the ongoing harassment against the members of the organisation in the States. In July, Telangana Police summoned the martial arts master Abdul Khader, under the pretext of questioning. Later, he and two others innocents were arrested in a false case,” it said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting of top officials, including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and is believed to have discussed the searches at premises linked to the Popular Front of India and action against terror suspects, officials said.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Dinkar Gupta were among the top officials who attended the high-level meeting.

Shah is said to have taken stock of the action taken against the terror suspects and activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) across the country, an official said.

While the NIA has registered multiple cases against several PFI members, the ED has launched investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Case. The ED had recently filed a supplementary chargesheet against two PFI leaders, Abdul Razaq Peediyakkal and Asharaf Khadir, alleging that they in association with the other PFI leaders and members associated with overseas entities, were developing a residential project, Munnar Villa Vista Project (MVVP), at Munnar in Kerala, with the objective of money laundering.

“Investigation established that ‘proceeds of crime’ in the form of unaccounted and unexplained cash as well as foreign funds were parked in MVVP and were projected as untainted,” said a ED statement. The agency alleged Peediyakkal, a long time member of the PFI and its related entities, who also served as its divisional president in Perumpadappu and Malappuram, Kerala, was a key figure representing such organisations in the Gulf countries.

The ED also alleged that he was actively involved in raising funds for the PFI in India and abroad. “He transferred around ₹34 lakh from the United Arab Emirates to the Rehab India Foundation (RIF) — a front organisation of the PFI. Similarly, he transferred ₹2 lakh to M. K. Faizy — president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) — political front of the PFI... he transferred about ₹19 crore to India through underground/illegal channels,” it said.

Khadir, a member of the PFI Kerala State Executive Council (earlier the PFI president of Ernakulam district), was also made an accused by the NIA in the 2010 Professor Joseph hand-chopping case, said the ED, alleging that “he was the owner of Darbar restaurant in Abu Dhabi which served as a money laundering front of the PFI... he did not disclose the fact of ownership of Darbar restaurant before the government authorities.”

The agency has identified the “proceeds of crime” of about ₹22 crore in the supplementary prosecution complaint. In February 2021, it had filed a chargesheet against five office bearers of the PFI and its student wing, Campus Front of India.

A tense situation evolved in Kerala, with scores of PFI activities turning out in strength to protest the raids. The police have upped their street presence to pre-empt any violence. The activists raised slogans against the Central government and squatted on the road in front of PFI offices and homes of leaders where the raids were on.

The detained reportedly included PFI national general secretary Nassarudeen Elamaram, Kerala State general secretary A. Abdul Sattar, former PFI national council member Karamana Ashraf Moulavi, former PFI chairperson E. Aboobacker, PFI State committee member, Yahiya Thangal and PFI district secretary, Pathanamthitta, Sadiq Ahmed, among others.

PFI activists staged a protest at centres in Malappuram where the NIA-ED raided with the backup of the Central police force. The State police was reportedly kept in the dark about the raids.

The protestors insisted that the raiding teams should give detailed statements about the seizures made in the raids. As per the reports given by the officials, mobile phones, books and pamphlets were seized from the houses of the PFI leaders.

In Coimbatore, the NIA took A.S. Ismail, national executive committee member, into custody after a search at the leader’s residence at Karumbukadai. A large number of PFI workers thronged the location hearing about the search operation by the NIA. The local police removed them to avoid law and order issues.

In Mangaluru, NIA sleuths searched the offices of PFI and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The search operation began at 6 a.m. from the offices of PFI and SDPI in Nellikai road in the central part of the city. Barricades were placed at the entrances of the road to block movement of locals.

Raids were conducted at four places in Pune last night and the early hours of Thursday, while searches are ongoing in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Aurangabad, Jalna, Kolhapur, Malegaon, Beed, Parbhani and Nanded among other places. Offences under sections of the IPC and UAPA have been registered in Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nanded, according to sources.

The officials said the searches are taking place at the premises of persons involved in terror funding, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations.

The Popular Front of India (PFI), in a statement, said, “The raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of PFI. The state committee office is also being raided. We strongly protest the fascist regime’s move to use agencies to silence dissenting voices,” it said.

The PFI entered Kerala’s political scene around 2006 and soon spread to other states. It later shifted its national headquarters from Kozhikode to New Delhi. The PFI portrays itself as a national movement for the human rights and emancipation of minorities, backward class and Dalit and tribal sections of society.

Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) had repeatedly termed the PFI an Islamist outfit and blamed the organisation for several political murders in Kerala.

Supreme Court reserves judgment in Karnataka hijab ban case

The Supreme Court on September 22 reserved its judgment in a batch of petitions challenging the prohibition on Muslim students from wearing hijab in classrooms in Karnataka.

A Bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia wrapped up the case for verdict after hearing the arguments presented by lawyers for petitioner-students and the State for 10 days.

The students had come in appeal against a Karnataka High Court judgment which had held that the proscription on hijab in classrooms was a reasonable restriction. The High Court had concluded that hijab was not an essential religious practice in Islam. The State argued in the apex court that it had the authority to issue an order to educational institutions to follow the discipline of wearing the prescribed school uniforms. The order was religion-neutral and did not distinguish one student from the other.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta even went to the extent of claiming that the hijab controversy was triggered by the Popular Front of India through social media.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, for the students, argued that fundamental rights, freedom to choose to what to wear and freedom of faith would not diminish inside a classroom.

The petitioners, represented by senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Devadatt Kamat and other lawyers, argued that the State had not presented a valid reason for restricting the religious freedom of Muslim students.

They contended that the State had not presented even a single shred of evidence to support their claim that a few students wearing hijab to their classrooms in addition to their respective uniforms violated public order, health and morality.

The lawyers argued that Karnataka did not provide any material to support their claim that wearing hijab infringed on the fundamental rights of other students. Petitioners said the averment about PFI’s alleged involvement was quite new and was not mentioned earlier in the High Court. Further, the State had not placed any material on record to back its allegation.

Supreme Court to live-stream its Constitution Bench proceedings from September 27 

In a bid to enhance transparency and accessibility in its functioning, the Supreme Court has decided to live-stream its proceedings of all Constitution Bench hearings from September 27, exactly four years after a path-breaking verdict in this regard was delivered in 2018.

A unanimous decision was taken by the 30 judges of the apex court in the full court meeting headed by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit held on September 20 evening to implement an apex court verdict of 2018 in the Swapnil Tripathi case.

On August 26, for the first time since its inception, the Supreme Court had live-streamed its proceedings of a Bench headed by then Chief Justice N.V. Ramana through a webcast portal.

It was ceremonial proceedings as Justice Ramana was to demit office on August 26.

Exactly four years back on September 26, 2018, the Supreme Court had taken a major leap in imparting transparency in the functioning of the judiciary by allowing live-streaming of court proceedings of cases of “constitutional and national importance”, saying this openness was like “sunlight” which is the “best disinfectant”.

It had said as a pilot project, only a specified category of cases that are of constitutional or national importance and are being argued before a constitution Bench should be live-streamed.

The top court had said that sensitive cases such as those dealing with matrimonial disputes or sexual assault should not be live streamed. Several important cases are to be heard by the five-judge Constitution Benches of the apex court next week, including the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment granting a 10% quota to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and others.

Recently, activist-lawyer Indira Jaising, who had also filed a separate petition in 2018, seeking live streaming of the court proceedings has written a letter to CJI U.U. Lalit seeking implementation of the 2018 verdict and live broadcast of proceedings of Constitution Bench cases heard by the apex court.

According to sources, initially, the apex court may live-stream the proceedings through ‘YouTube’ and would later host them on its server. People would be able to access the proceedings of the apex court on their cell phones, laptops, and computers without any hassle.

On September 6, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who is next in line to become Chief Justice of India and heads the E-Committee of the apex court while hearing a case recalled an incident when he had seen someone recording court proceedings on a cell phone.

“Yesterday, I saw someone using a mobile phone, perhaps recording what we were saying during the proceedings. Initially, I thought, how can he record the proceedings? But then, my thoughts changed. What’s the big deal in it? It’s an open court hearing. Nothing is confidential here”, Justice Chandrachud had said.

Justice Chandrachud, who was also one of the authors of the 2018 verdict along with now-retired Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and then Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that there has to be a changed mindset and instead of taking a traditional view, judges have to adopt a view of today’s time.

Justice Chandrachud, however, said that one should refrain from recording the discussions of judges among themselves.

Congress issues notification for AICC president polls 

The Congress central election authority issued a notification for the AICC (All India Congress Committee) president polls on Thursday in order to elect the successor to the longest-serving party chief Sonia Gandhi.

As per the notification which has been issued, Madhusudan Mistry, the Chairman of the Central Election Authority, under the power vested in him by the provision of Article XVIII of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, announced that election for the post of the party president will take place as per the given schedule.

The process of filing the nomination will take place from September 24 to September 30. The scrutiny of the nomination paper would be done on October 1 and the last date for the withdrawal of nominations would be October 8. Furthermore, if there is more than one candidate, the election is slated to take place as per the scheduled date- October 17 followed by the counting of votes as well as the declaration of results which will be done on October 19.

The notification further read that the nomination form will be available at the AICC Office, 24 Akbar Road, New Delhi. Amid growing buzz about the race for the Congress president's post, around a dozen Pradesh Congress Committees have so far come out in support of Rahul Gandhi by backing him for the post of the party president.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot gave a clear indication that he could contest the elections. It is evident that Gehlot could throw his hat in the ring if Rahul Gandhi does not agree to take on the party’s reins. Meanwhile, former Union minister and Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor is looking set to enter the fray and met party’s poll panel chief.

The grand old party is set to see a contest for the position of party chief after over two decades. The upcoming presidential polls would be historic as the new president would replace Sonia Gandhi, who has been at the helm since 1998, barring 2017 to 2019 when Rahul Gandhi took over the post.

One-man, one-post commitment expected to be maintained: Rahul Gandhi

With the Congress presidential polls round the corner, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said decisions, including that of one-man, one-post, taken at the chintan shivir at Udaipur in Rajasthan earlier this year are expected to be followed.

Responding to queries during a press conference held between the first and second leg of the day’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said the Congress president was not just an organisational position, it is an ideological post and a belief system.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ernakulam district on September 22, 2022. Photo: Screengrab from video tweeted by @INCIndia via PTI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ernakulam district on September 22, 2022. Photo: Screengrab from video tweeted by @INCIndia via PTI

“What we decided at Udaipur, we expect that commitment to be maintained,” Gandhi said on being asked whether he would stand by the Udaipur chintan shivir decision on one-man, one-post.

Gandhi, also the MP from Wayanad, said he would advise whosoever becomes the president of the party that they should remember that the post represents a set of ideas, a belief system and a vision of India.

Another piece of advice he had for the contestants in the party’s presidential polls was that “you are taking a historic position. A position that defines and has defined a particular view of India.”

On the nation-wide raids on the offices and other premises of the Popular Front of India (PFI), Gandhi said that “all forms of communalism regardless where they come from should be combated. There should be zero tolerance towards communalism and it should be combated.”

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot arrived in Kerala amidst speculation as to who all would be contesting the party’s presidential polls.

In Brief: 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged the United Nations to punish Russia for its invasion, calling for a special tribunal and compensation fund and for Moscow to be stripped of its veto. “A crime has been committed against Ukraine and we demand just punishment,” said Zelensky, the sole leader allowed to deliver an address via video to the annual summit. Wearing his trademark military green T-shirt, Zelensky said in a pre-recorded address that Russia had violated the principles of the world body. Zelensky called for the establishment of a special tribunal against Russia “for the crime of aggression against our state” and to ensure accountability. He called for a fund to compensate Ukrainians for damage suffered during the invasion.

Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.

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