Kanpur clashes: ED seeks details of three persons held for funding main accused

LUCKNOW: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Monday,  approached Kanpur police seeking details of the three persons arrested in connection with violent protests in Kanpur on June 3 and their alleged link Popular Front of India (PFI).

ED will scan their financial transactions to ascertain if there was any money-laundering by the three namely --  Saifullah, Mohammad Naseem and Mohammad Umar.

It may be recalled that Kanpur had witness a communal flare-up in different localities when members of minority community took to streets to protest after Friday prayers on June 3 against the statement of Nupur Sharma, ex-BJP spokesperson, over Prophet Mohammad.

Around a dozen persons were injured during the protests which took a violent turn as the protestors started hurling stones, crude bombs on common people while trying to force the shopkeepers to down shutters in Nai Sadak and Yateemkhana areas of the city after Friday prayers.

The three persons allegedly linked with PFI came under the ED scanner after Kanpur police got the leads that they had funded the prime accused of Kanpur flare-up, Hayat Zafar Hashmi for mobilizing the crowd and staging the protest.

“The three including Saifullah, Mohammad Naseem and Mohammad Umar, having affiliation to PFI, were also identified during violence against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019. They were arrested then also,” said Vijay Singh Meena, Kanpur police commissioner.

As per ED sources, the transactions of the three arrested accused and also Hayat Zafar Hashmi would be scanned after getting their details and of the case from the Kanpur police.

Last year, ED in its charge-sheet had said that Popular Front of India (PFI) men got finances from abroad to help their alleged bid to disturb communal harmony in Hathras after alleged gang rape of a minor girl which led to her death in September, 2020.