The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a man from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu following fresh round of searches in a money laundering case against the SDPI, the political front of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), official sources said Friday.
Wahidur Rahman Jainullabudeen was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) from Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district on Thursday, the sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) made the arrest after conducting searches at the house of Jainullabudeen, who was brought to Delhi on Thursday night, and is expected to be produced before a special PMLA court on Friday, they said. The federal probe agency carried out the first round of searches in the case on March 6 after it arrested M K Faizy, the national president of SDPI, from the Delhi airport on March 3.
The ED claimed before a court while seeking 55-year-old Faizy’s custody that there existed an “organic” relation between the two outfits and that the Popular Front of India was carrying out its criminal activities through the political party (SDPI).
The Centre banned the Popular Front of India in September 2022,
calling it an unlawful association which allegedly indulged in terrorist activities.
Multi-agency searches by the ED, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and various state police forces preceded the Popular Front of India ban. Founded in 2009, the SDPI is registered as a political party with the ECI.
