ED attaches PFI properties worth ₹67 cr in Kerala
With the latest action, total attachments in the PMLA case have reached ₹129 crore.
With the latest action, total attachments in the PMLA case have reached ₹129 crore.
With the latest action, total attachments in the PMLA case have reached ₹129 crore.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached eight immovable properties in Kerala, allegedly owned and controlled by the banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI). The attached assets are valued at ₹67.03 crore, officials said on Friday.
According to the ED headquarters in New Delhi, the properties were registered under various trusts and under the name of PFI’s political wing, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
The attachment order, issued on November 6, covers assets held by several entities including the Green Valley Foundation, Alappuzha Social Cultural and Education Trust, Pandalam Educational and Cultural Trust (Pathanamthitta), Islamic Centre Trust (Wayanad), Haritham Foundation (Malappuram), Periyar Valley Charitable Trust (Aluva), Vallavunad Trust (Palakkad), and land registered in the name of SDPI (Thiruvananthapuram).
The ED stated that it has so far provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth ₹61.98 crore through nine Provisional Attachment Orders (PAOs) in connection with this case, all of which have been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). With the latest action, total attachments in the case have reached ₹129 crore.
An ED official said that records seized during the investigation indicated that PFI had been conducting Physical Education (PE) training programmes and constructing sheds on several of these properties, including Valluvanad House at Pattambi in Palakkad, and Malabar House (Haritham Foundation) in Malappuram. The agency alleged that these training sessions were intended to prepare PFI cadres through offensive and defensive drills involving the use of weapons, as part of what it described as the organisation’s “jihadist agenda” and involvement in “unlawful activities.”
The ED’s investigation also noted that several PFI leaders were former members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the erstwhile student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, which was banned following the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Following this, senior members of the National Development Front (NDF)—which later evolved into PFI—allegedly formed multiple trusts across Kerala to register and conceal properties under their control, the ED said.
The central government had banned PFI in 2022.