Tracing suspicious flow of money, ED claims PFI funding in anti-CAA protest in UP

New Delhi, January 28: Taking cognizance of the intensifying situation of the protest on CAA, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent a note to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) mentioning that there is a direct link between the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Uttar Pradesh and the Popular Front of India (PFI). The ED has sent the note after correlating the dates of money deposited in bank accounts and dates of anti-CAA protests in UP.

The Enforcement Directorate's note to the Home Ministry comes after an investigation into bank accounts of PFI in some districts of western UP. During the investigation, ED found that a huge amount of money was transferred to bank accounts linked to the PFI. Protests against the CAA had turned violent last year, resulting in damages to public property in several places across Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this month, MHA had received a report from the UP government on the activities of PFI in the state. The UP DGP OP Singh had also said that PFI was actively involved in violent protests against the CAA, he added that some members of the party had been arrested and there was proof regarding the same. Singh also wrote a letter to the MHA seeking a ban on the PFI for its involvement in anti-CAA protests last year.

The CAA grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.