ED arrests Tamil Nadu resident in PFI-SDPI money laundering case
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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken a Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu resident into custody following recent searches conducted as part of an ongoing money laundering case against the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), according to official sources.
Wahidur Rahman Jainullabudeen was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) from Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district on Thursday, the sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Jainullabudeen after conducting searches at his residence, and he's been brought to Delhi to face a special PMLA court today, they said.
Fresh raids were launched by the ED on Thursday in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kerala.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted initial searches in the case during the first week of March, resulting in the arrest of M K Faizy, national president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The ED alleged in court that the SDPI and the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) have an "organic" relationship, with the PFI using the SDPI to carry out its criminal activities.
Centre banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) in September 2022, deeming it an unlawful association involved in terrorist activities. Prior to the ban, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA), and state police forces conducted multi-agency searches. The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), founded in 2009, is a registered political party with the Election Commission of India.
Seeking Faizy's remand earlier this week, the ED told the court that the PFI and the SDPI were "organically" linked and the latter was nothing but the "political front" of the former and was "funded and controlled" by it.
The agency claimed that it had evidence to state that there was a "deep-rooted" nexus between the two organisations, as there was "overlapping" membership of their cadres, involvement of PFI office-bearers in the founding of the SDPI, and utilisation of each other's assets.
(inputs from PTI)