The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said Friday it found no links between Chandrashekhar Azaad-led Bhim Army and the Popular Front of India(PFI). The agency also rubbished claims that Rs 100 crore of alleged foreign funding to incite violence through the Hathras case had been recovered.
The development has put UP Police claims under question, who have repeatedly alleged an "international plot" to "defame" the state government and "instigate riot along caste lines".
The PFI is a controversial Kerala-based organisation that has earlier often been accused of involvement in various terror activities. The body has also been accused of inciting tensions during the anti-CAA protests. UP DGP Brij Lal had recently claimed that Bhim Army and other outfits were attempting to mislead the family of Hathras victim.
After the alleged gangrape and death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras, various social and political bodies, including citizens had put pressure on the UP government for a fair trial and justice. UP Police have been heavily criticised for 'cremating' the body of the victim late at night without her family present.
After repeated attempts by various political parties including the Congress, and Bhim Army to meet the victim's family members faced administrative hurdles, there was a shift in Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's strategy. He started afresh on October 4th with a sensational charge that behind the demonstrations and campaigns was a sinister design to defame his government and provoke riots in the state.
The Hathras Police lodged an FIR against "unknown" persons for alleged attempt to trigger caste-based conflict and invoked serious charges, including sedition, officials had informed on October 5.
The FIR mentions 19 charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The IPC sections include 124A (sedition), 505 (intending to cause public alarm and inducing someone to commit offence against state or public tranquility), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups).
Two days later, UP Police booked under sedition a Kerala-based journalist and three other people, alleged to have 'links' with PFI. The four were arrested in Mathura on Monday while on their way to Hathras from Delhi and were been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
Meanwhile, Bhim Army and Azad Samaj Party leader Chandrashekhar Azaad has been consistent on his criticism against Adityanath and his handling of the Hathras case, alleging that the state government and police were trying to push a false narrative to deflect flak.
"For the first time, I have seen how the police operates in Ram Rajya. The police's job across the country is to collect evidence. But the work of the police in India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, is to destroy evidence. The victim's family did not give their signatures to take the body away. The victim's family was in Delhi but the body went to UP. How is this possible?" Azaad had earlier said.
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