The High Court of Allahabad on Tuesday refused to grant bail to alleged Popular Front of India leader Abdul Razaq Peediyakkal, who was booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for collecting and laundering over Rs 20 crore for PFI.
The order was passed by the Single-Judge Bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan on bail plea filed by Peediyakkal.
A detailed copy of the order is awaited.
In December, 2021, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided the residence of Peediyakkal as well as the Munnar Villa Vista Project (MVVP) site, wherein it found several discrepancies in the receipt of suspicious foreign funds from abroad and also in cash expenses incurred and recorded in account books.
ED then arrested him and filed a charge sheet against him and his co-accused before the Special PMLA Court in Lucknow.
The charge sheet alleged that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to raise funds in India as well as abroad for the purpose of using the same for PFI’s unlawful activities.
The national agency further said that Peediyakkal was the largest shareholder of MVVP, which was set up allegedly with the motive to launder money collected from abroad and in India.
The charge sheet alleged that the PFI leader owned some other companies as well, which were being used to collect funds for utilisation in PFI’s activities.