Law enforcement agencies doing their job, says minister after ED links PFI with anti-CAA protests

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that the law enforcement agencies are only "doing their job" after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) linked the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) with anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh.

The ED has sent a note to the Union Home Ministry (MHA) mentioning that there is a direct link between the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Uttar Pradesh and the PFI.

"The law enforcement agencies are doing their job, I need not make any comment. But if there is suspicious nature of transaction on a particular day then obviously it raises serious apprehension, and protests that are organised don't look voluntary," Prasad told reporters here when asked about PFI transactions.

The ED's note to the Home Ministry came after an investigation into bank accounts of PFI in some districts of western UP. During the investigation, ED found that a huge amount of money was transferred to bank accounts linked to PFI.

Protests against the CAA had turned violent at several places across Uttar Pradesh in December last year, resulting in the deaths of at least 19 persons during clashes with the police.

Earlier this month, the MHA had received a report from the UP government on the activities of PFI in the state.

UP police chief OP Singh has also said that PFI was actively involved in violent protests against the CAA. He added that some members of the party had been arrested and there was proof regarding the same. Singh also wrote a letter to the MHA seeking a ban on the PFI for its involvement in anti-CAA protests last year.

The CAA grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.