New Delhi, Feb 6 The Enforcement Directorate is learnt to have unearthed some crucial evidence linking the Popular Front of India (PFI) to the Shaheen Bagh protests. The information, coming ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, also links PFI with some high-ranking leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress.
According to ED sources, the central probe agency has found connection of the PFI with other organisations, including some big names in the AAP.
The ED has also started investigations into linkages between the Bhim Party with the PFI.
ED sources noted that Rs 120.5 crore was credited in 17 different banks to a total of 73 bank accounts of which 27 bank accounts are operated by the PFI, nine bank accounts are operated by Rehab India Foundation (RIF) and 37 accounts are in the names of certain individuals and entities.
The ED sources also noted that the bulk of donations are by way of cash contributions, of which one-third is kept at PFI's national headquarters at Shaheen Bagh.
The investigators have found that PFI's Delhi unit president Mohammed Perwez Ahmed has been in touch with several AAP and Congress leaders.
In January, the ED had found evidence of PFI and RFI funding to the tune of Rs 120 crore, for the anti-CAA protests, primarily in the Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi.
The ED has already dispatched multiple teams to western Uttar Pradesh to probe the details of people who deposited the amounts in the bank accounts of PFI and RFI.
The Shaheen Bagh protests, on since December 15, have emerged as an epicentre of anti-CAA protest in the country. The BJP has been raising the Shaheen Bagh protest as an election issue.
( With inputs from IANS )