NEW DELHI/KOZHIKODE: A Delhi court on Tuesday sent SDPI national president M K Faizy to the custody of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for six days in an alleged money laundering case in connecion with the proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI).
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh sent Faizy to custody on the plea of ED seeking his interrogation to unearth the money trail in the case and conspiracy. The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), founded in 2009 and headquartered in Delhi, is alleged to be the political front of the now-banned PFI.
The accused opposed the application, saying the funds were transferred before the PFI was declared unlawful. Faizy, according to the sources, was held on March 3 night from the Delhi international airport under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED has alleged SDPI to be the “political front” of PFI, which was banned by the Centre in Sept 2022 for being an “unlawful association”. The SDPI, however, denies any such link and calls itself an independent outfit.
Meanwhile, SDPI activists took out a protest march in Kozhikode against Faizy’s arrest. Party national vice-president Mohammed Shefi said in a statement that the arrest of Faizy was part of retaliatory politics by the BJP govt at the Centre aimed at suppressing political opponents.