NEW DELHI: Several days after the arrest of Moideen Kutty K, also known as MK Faizy, the President of the Democratic Party of India (SDPI), at IGI Airport, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids on Thursday. The raids took place at 12 offices of the party across eight states in India, as part of an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to officials.
According to the officials raids were conducted at two locations in Delhi, including the SDPI Headquarters; Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram, Karnataka’s Bengaluru, Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal, Maharashtra’s Thane, Tamil Nadu’s Chennai, Jharkhand’s Pakur, West Bengal’s Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow and Rajasthan’s Jaipur.
The officials said the raids are part of the agency’s ongoing investigation into the activities of the SDPI, which, it alleges, is a political arm of the banned terror outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). The SDPI, established in 2009 is present in multiple states and is registered as a political party with the Election Commission of India.
In 2022 the ED had coordinated raids on the SDPI and the PFI across several states, leading to multiple arrests. The current raids relate the ED’s ongoing scrutiny of the outfit’s suspected involvement in activities contravening laws of the country.
Following the arrest of Faizy, the ED on March 3 issued a statement alleging that the SDPI was dependent on the banned outfit PFI for its day-to-day functions, policymaking, and selecting candidates for contesting elections.
The ED initiated its probe against PFI and others under provisions of the PMLA based on an FIR registered on August 7, 2013 by the NIA’s Kochi Branch, and another FIR registered by the anti-terror agency’s Delhi branch on April 13, 2022 along with various FIRs registered by other law enforcement agencies.
“Investigation revealed that the office bearers, members and cadres of PFI, were conspiring and raising/collecting funds from within India and abroad through banking channels, Hawala, donations for committing and financing terrorist acts across India,” ED had alleged in a statement.
During the raids conducted on December 3, 2020 at various locations belonging to PFI and its office bearers, the ED had then said, numerous incriminating documents and digital evidence were recovered and seized, that establishes that “PFI used to control, fund and supervise the activities of SDPI; that SDPI is a front of PFI having common members and cadres and leaders; that SDPI was dependent on PFI for its day-to-day functions, policy making, selecting candidates for election campaign, public programs, cadre mobilization and other related activities”.
In the statement issued on March 4, the ED alleged saying: “The SDPI positions itself internally as an Islamic movement and externally as a social movement. To achieve these goals, the PFI has established SDPI and several front organizations.”
It further said, “A letter addressed to ‘Faizy Sahab’ (MK Faizy) was recovered during the searches conducted at Unity House, Kozhikode (PFI’s Kerala State HQ) which mentions about ‘Procedures of selecting candidates’ for state assembly and parliamentary elections.”
The agency further said, “There were several copies of minutes of meeting and handwritten documents revealing evidence of PFI funding elections contested by SDPI candidates, approval by the National Executive Council (NEC) of PFI for SDPI to collect funds in Gulf countries, and PFI covering legal expenses for SDPI members accused in criminal cases registered by the police which have been seized during the searches conducted at Unity House, Kozhikode.”