The probe agency is likely to summon more people connected with these two organisations to find out the source of the funds.
Widening
its probe, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is examining the role of
Kerala -based Popular Front of India (PFI) and Rehab India Foundation
(RIF) for allegedly funding protests against the abrogation of
Sections of Article
370.
Senior
members of both organisations earlier were questioned in connection
with their alleged link to Rs 120 crore used for the protests against
the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of
Citizens (NRC) across the country. While the PFI is an Islamic
outfit, RIF is a non-profit organisation.
However,
the ED’s inquiry in the ongoing matter raised suspicion over their
involvement in several protests over 70 days since the government
removed Jammu & Kashmir's (J&K's) special status.
Sources
in the ED said the protests related to the J&K issue were
stage-managed, especially in Delhi-NCR and some areas of Uttar
Pradesh. Officials are trying to ascertain the quantum of funding
that was mobilised allegedly to provoke protesters.
The
probe agency is likely to summon more people connected with these two
organisations to find out the source of the funds, and whether there
was any support from anti-social elements. Early probe reveals that
cash given to a protester was in the range of Rs 2,000-10,000 at the
height of the stir against the J&K
move.
On
Wednesday, the PFI’s state president Mohammed Parvez Ahmed and
RFI’s Shahid Abu Bakr appeared before the ED in Delhi.
A
team of Delhi and UP police is working with the central agency to
identify the people who deposited and withdrew Rs 1.04 crore cash
between December 4 and January 6 from about 15 bank accounts of the
PFI and RFI. There were as many as 80-90 withdrawals from a few bank
accounts in a day, the sources said.
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