File picture | Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has concluded that there is a direct link between anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Uttar Pradesh and the Kerala-based Popular Front of India (PFI), a report said on Monday.

The link between the violent clashes and the PFI has been corroborated on the basis of money transfers to areas which witnessed violence on an unparalleled scale.

The PFI has, however, dismissed the report. In a statement, the organisation called the allegation of funding the anti-CAA stir as "baseless".

It is to be noted that the ED has been investigating the PFI under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2018.

Sources suggest that the ED concluded that after Parliament approved the CAA in December, money was transferred into bank accounts in the areas, which fall under western Uttar Pradesh, like Bijnor, Hapur, Bahraich, Shamli, Dasna.

As per the report, the total amount of money that was used to finance the agitation was Rs 120 crore spread across 73 bank accounts.

Sources further claimed that the ED found out that the funds deposited in banks were also routed from some foreign shores and deposited to the accounts of certain investment firms.

It has also come to light that the Kashmir wing of the PFI too received Rs 1.65 crores.

The ED has reportedly apprised the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the money trail.

The report has come days after PFI president Wasim Ahmad, accused of masterminding violence, got bail and released last week after the UP Police failed to furnish in court 'substantial evidence' against Ahmad.

"The government is merely trying to malign the organisation but without any concrete proof. As many as 19 of the 25 PFI members, arrested by the police, have been granted bail because the police had no evidence against us," the PFI president had told the media.

This is to be noted that the Yogi Adityanath government has sent a proposal, calling for a ban on the PFI on the basis that the organisation was involved in anti-national activities.