Hathras case: Kerala scribe, PFI members charged under PMLA
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NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Thursday it has charged office-bearers of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its students’ wing -Campus Front of India (CFI) -for allegedly conspiring to incite violence and disturb harmony in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, where a Dalit woman was allegedly gangraped by four upper caste men last September. The 19-year-old died at a hospital in New Delhi.
The charge sheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), filed against Atikur Rahman (national treasurer of CFI), Masud Ahmed (Delhi general secretary of CFI), Siddique Kappan (a Kerala-based journalist allegedly associated with PFI), Mohammad Alam (a CFI/PFI member) and KA Rauf Sherif (the national general secretary of CFI and a member of PFI), has been accepted by a special court in Lucknow. It is the first charge sheet under money laundering charges in connection with the case.
ED, which probes financial crimes, said in a statement: “…probe has revealed that more than ₹100 crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI over the years and a very large part of this money has been deposited in cash.”
The statement added that illegal activities of PFI/CFI included funding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), fomenting trouble that led to Delhi riots in February 2020, and attempts to disturb harmony in Hathras. The agency said it is trying to ascertain the source of ₹100 crore deposited in the accounts of PFI over the years.
Rahman, Ahmed, Kappan, and Alam were arrested at Mathura by the Uttar Pradesh Police on October 5 while they were on their way to Hathras, ED said.
Probe revealed that they were visiting Hathras on the instructions of KA Rauf Sherif, who also provided funds to incite violence, according to the agency. Sherif was arrested on December 12 from Thiruvananthapuram airport when he was allegedly trying to flee from India.
ED has been separately investigating PFI for the Delhi riots that occurred after months of protests against CAA, which fasttracks Indian citizenship for non-muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
PFI has been collecting huge amounts from abroad through members/activists and these funds have been remitted to India through hawala/underground channels, ED said.
PFI rejected what it called ED’S “false claims”. “Members/ office bearers of other organizations are portrayed as Popular Front office bearers. This is not an innocent mistake at all. Instead of proving its case through transparent investigations, ED continues to drag the name of Popular Front into fabricated and politically motivated case like the imaginary instigation of caste violence at Hathras…,” Anis Ahmed, PFI general secretary, said in a statement.
He alleged that ED “has zero credibility” and “has been pressurised by the Bjp-led central government to defame” PFI.
NEW DELHI: The police have arrested three Delhi residents for their alleged role in violence at north Delhi’s Burari during the Republic Day’s tractor rally, officers said on Thursday.
The special investigation team set up to probe incidents during the clashes between the police and security personnel arrested Guru Prakash, 34, a resident of Old Mahavir Nagar and Gurjeet Singh, 34, and Rajendra Singh 41, of Bhalswa Dairy on Wednesday evening.
Police have already arrested eight men linked with violence in Burari. Burari was one of the sites where protesting farmers and police had clashed with each other on Republic Day. Over 500 security personnel were injured in the clash and several public properties were damaged
At least 394 police personnel and 10 farmers were injured when farmers protesting against the three farm laws deviated from the route approved for the tractor rally, clashed with police personnel and stormed the Red Fort on January 26.
In their ongoing investigation into the violence reported from different locations in Delhi on Republic Day, the police have identified at least 100 persons, using video analytics and face recognition software. The police are matching the photographs with records of the crime dossiers, transport department data and social media accounts. So far, 143 persons have been arrested in 40 cases registered at different police stations.
Police have also appealed to the public to share CCTV footage and pictures of the violence. So far, the police have received 2,700 video clips from the people.
Special commissioner of police Praveer Ranjan said Delhi police are conducting a scientific probe. “Help from forensic experts is being taken for identification of the suspects for a fair and balanced investigation,” he said.
Several teams of the Delhi police are camping in Punjab in search for Jugraj Singh, the Tarn Taran resident who allegedly hoisted the two flags, a religious one and that of the farmers union, at Red Fort, officers aware of the matter said.
Police said Jugraj is the “most important link” in the conspiracy to storm Red Fort on Republic Day. Delhi police have maintained that the violence on January 26 and vandalism at Red Fort was a pre-planned conspiracy.
Delhi police officers said they have visited the ancestral village of Jugraj Singh in Tarn Taran and several other places in Punjab such as Ludhiana and Amritsar.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday declined to interfere with the East Kidwai Nagar Redevelopment project, saying it was in tune with the Master of Delhi (MPD) 2021 even as the court assigned specific tasks to several agencies involved in order to address concerns raised by the residents of South Extension-ii who petitioned the court in 2014.
The court observed that while decentralisation of offices was the need of the hour, it cannot be said there was total prohibition on relocation of central PSU offices within Delhi at present. “One can only say that the government must work towards the fulfilment of this goal that has been set in the MPD,” Justice Navin Chawla said.
The East Kidwai Nagar project is one of the massive residential redevelopment plans around the Ring Road. The complex, spread over 86 acres, aims to construct more than 6,000 residential and commercial plots. As per the central government’s plan, eight areas are being developed as group housing societies —East Kidwai Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Thyagaraja Nagar, Srinivaspuri and Mohammadpur where more than 25,000 flats for government employees are being made in these neighbourhoods.
The court on Thursday directed the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), which is carrying out the project, to not hand over the possession of the commercial space at East Kidwai Nagar until compensatory transplantation is carried out and the 10% excess earmarking of commercial space adjoining the Darya Khan Tomb is not compounded.
The court said mere grant of sanction by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for construction, cannot give the right to the NBCC to encroach upon a protected monument area where no construction could be done within 100 metres according to the norms of the Archaeological Survey of India.
“…The project has been considered by various Authorities like the state Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority, National Monuments Authority,
Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Unified Traffic & Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, etc. In absence of any specific challenge to any of such permissions, this court cannot sit as an appellate body over such authorities to reassess the permissions so granted,” the court said.
Advocate Manali Singhal, who represented the petitioners, said the project violated traffic, pollution and environment norms. She said the project does not provide for adequate infrastructure in form of roads, open spaces, water supply, green belt, etc and alleged violation of various conditions imposed by the authorities while granting permissions for the project.
The court said that it has to be ensured that for lack of parking space in the colony, vehicles are not parked outside on the main or the arterial roads. It directed the authorities to ensure “strict policing and zero tolerance” to avoid congestion.
“Once the order is read and understood, the court orders will be implemented as directed,” the Delhi traffic police said.
The authorities told the court that they had already planted 14,575 trees till October 2019 as compensatory plantation out the total 15,455 approved. A senior forest department official said the HC’S orders will be followed.
Court cannot sit as an appellate body over authorities to reassess the granted permissions.
DELHI HIGH COURT
Eight persons were arrested Thursday in connection with the deaths of two cousins in Badalpur area earlier this week during clashes over a property dispute.
During the clashes, Amit, 40, and his cousin Salek, 34, had died while their uncle Prem Singh, 50, was injured. The property in question is a 200 sq metres piece of land and a pathway in Girdharpur village.
Harish Chander, DCP, Noida Central, said there was a property dispute allegedly between Amit and Devendra in the village. On Monday, they were holding a panchayat with the village pradhan to resolve the issue. However, the groups allegedly started arguing and the matter escalated.
Police said Amit and Devendra worked as property dealers and both had claimed ownership of the land. “The two groups clashed with each other over the property. Devendra and his brother Ravindra brought a licensed rifle and a licensed pistol, and opened fire at the opposite group in which Amit received a bullet in his chest while Suresh (Salek) was hit in his face and both died,” said Dharmendra Sharma, the in-charge of Badalpur police station. Prem was injured in the abdomen. They were rushed to a private hospital where Amit and Salek were declared brought dead while Prem is stable.
Police said the suspects had allegedly fled the scene soon after. The Badalpur police had registered a case against the suspects under IPC Section 302 (murder) and launched probe.
Police said that on Thursday, the suspects had allegedly gathered near Ambedkar Park in Badalpur and they were planning to flee in a car. A police team conducted a raid and held them after an encounter.
The suspects were identified as Devendra, 40, his brother Ravindra, 35, and Bhopal, 36. All of them received bullet injuries in their legs. The police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on their arrest. The police also arrested four other alleged accomplices, namely Satyendra, Jitendra, Dharmendra and Mahipal, in connection with the case. Another suspect arrested in the case, Anupam Yadav, is a resident of Chhapraula village in Badalpur.
The police seized the licensed pistol, a rifle, one live cartridge and a car allegedly from their possession. “The suspects were produced in court and sent to judicial custody,” Sharma said.