ED raids places linked to SDPI functionaries in Coimbatore
As the news of the ED raid spread out, a large number of SDPI cadre gathered and shouted slogans condemning the raid and raising slogans against the central government
CRPF personnel standing guard as ED officials conduct raid at the house of Razik in Coimbatore on Thursday
COIMBATORE: Sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted a search in the houses of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) functionaries in Coimbatore, as part of searches conducted in multiple states as part of its ongoing money-laundering probe against the organisation and its political outfit of the banned Popular Front of India.
A team of five sleuths descended on the house of Razik, secretary of SDPI’s Coimbatore north district at Annaji Rao Road in Mettupalayam at 10.30 am. The search was conducted with armed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel standing guard at the house.
As the news of the ED raid spread out, a large number of SDPI cadre gathered and shouted slogans condemning the raid and raising slogans against the central government. They sought to conduct raids instead in the houses of corporates like Ambani and Adani.
A quarrel broke out when CRPF personnel prevented the cadres from taking videos and photos at the spot.
As tension prevailed, a police team from Mettupalayam station also arrived to prevent any untoward incidents. Similar searches were conducted in the houses of two other SDPI members in the same locality. A number of premises in Mettupalaiyam, Coimbatore, Arcot and Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Bhilwara and Kota in Rajasthan, Kolkata and Kottayam and Palakkad in Kerala were raided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The federal probe agency carried out the first round of searches in the case in the first week of March and arrested Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) national president M K Faizy.
The ED alleges an “organic” relationship between the SDPI and PFI in carrying out criminal activities.
