In its application seeking 10 days of SDPI chief M.K. Faizy’s custody, the ED alleged he was on the run. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
A Delhi court on Monday (March 10, 2025) extended by three days the ED custody of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) national president M.K. Faizy in an alleged case of money laundering related to the proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI).
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh extended the custody on EDs plea seeking extension of custody for five days.
On March 4, the court sent Mr. Faizy to custody on the plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking his interrogation and confronting him to unearth the money trail in the case and conspiracy.
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The SDPI, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Delhi, is alleged to be the political front of the now banned PFI.
In its application seeking 10 days of his custody, the ED alleged Mr. Faizy was on the run.
The accused opposed the application, saying the funds were transferred before the PFI was declared unlawful.
“How could accused know that the government was going to declare it unlawful so that could have stopped the transaction,” the defence counsel had said.
Mr. Faizy, according to the sources, was held on the night of March 3 from the Delhi international airport under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED has alleged SDPI to be the “political front” of PFI, which was banned by the Centre in September, 2022 for being an “unlawful association”.
Prior to the ban, simultaneous raids and enforcement action were conducted against the PFI by multiple probe agencies, including the ED, NIA and other state police teams.
The SDPI, however, denies any such link and calls itself an independent outfit.
Also Read | SDPI to stage protests against arrest of its national president
According to the SDPI, Mr. Faizy was among the founder leaders of the organisation and was elected its national president in 2018.
He is a Islamic scholar and a political observer who served as a Masjid Imam in the 1980s, the SDPI portal said.
The organisation, according to officials in the investigative agencies, has a “strong” influence in various pockets of Kerala and Karnataka and some other southern states.
The ED, as part of its probe against the PFI in 2022, had linked Mr. Faizy with a Kerala-based PFI leader named Abdul Razak B P who is alleged to have transferred Rs 2 lakh to the SDPI national president as part of the fund raising activities of his organisation.
Published – March 10, 2025 04:23 pm IST
