Kapil Sibal refutes reports of receiving money from PFI in connection with anti-CAA protest

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday refuted reports of having received payments from the Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"The Enforcement Directorate has released a statement analysing the bank accounts of the Popular Front of India in which my name has been mentioned as a recipient of Rs 77,00,000. Several news channels are running stories suggesting that PFI is funding the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 agitations. The payments made to me are being connected with the protests against the CAA," he said in a statement.

"The CAA became law only in December 2019. In all matters in which I have appeared in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the CAA, I have not raised, till date, any invoice in any matter," he added.

The Congress leader in his statement said he was paid Rs 77 lakh with respect to "litigation in SLP (Crl) No. 19702 of 2017 titled 'Shafin Jahan (Petitioner) Versus Asokan K.M. & Ors. (Respondents)."

"This is related to Hadiya's marriage to Shafin Jahan, which was challenged right up to the Supreme Court with the NIA and the father of Hadiya being parties. In that litigation, I represented Hadiya, the wife. Ultimately, the marriage was upheld and Hadiya was given the liberty to live with her husband Shafin Jahan."

The Congress leader stated that for his appearances in the Supreme Court for Hadiya, he raised invoices and received payments thereon. He mentioned the details of these payments in his statement.

"I have raised the invoices on my Advocate on Record Harris Beeran for each of the appearances. The cheques, when received in my office, were deposited and encashed by my staff. The first invoice raised was on August 4, 2017, and the last of the seven invoices on March 8, 2018. The CAA was cleared by Parliament only in December 2019," he said.

"I was paid for professional services rendered and for nothing else. Any insinuations made to besmirch my good name and defame me will be taken seriously," he said in the statement.

It was earlier reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sent a note to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) mentioning that there is a direct link between the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Uttar Pradesh and the Popular Front of India (PFI).