ED carries out countrywide raids against PFI, its chairman in money laundering case

New Delhi: The ED on Thursday raided 26 locations in nine states linked to the Popular Front of India (PFI) including those of its chairman O M Abdul Salam and Kerala state chief Nasarudheen Elamarom as part of a "larger" money laundering probe against the organisation, official sources said.

The PFI, formed in 2006 in Kerala and headquartered in Delhi, called the raids a gimmick and an attempt to divert attention from the farmers' issue. The nationwide searches are being conducted at Chennai, Tenkasi and Madurai (Tamil Nadu); Bengaluru; Darbhanga and Purnea (Bihar); Lucknow and Barabanki (Uttar Pradesh); Aurangabad in Maharashtra; Kolkata and Murshidabad (West Bengal); Jaipur; Shaheen Bagh area in Delhi and in Kochi, Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The central probe agency is investigating PFI's "financial links" on alleged charges of fuelling the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in the country, the Delhi riots that took place in February and few other instances.

Official sources said the action against PFI was aimed at collecting evidence in multiple money laundering cases that have been clubbed into one as part of a "larger" probe

against it.