New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate Friday said it has arrested a former physical trainer of the Popular Front of India (PFI) from Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore following fresh round of searches in a money laundering case against the banned organisation's political arm SDPI.

The agency said the PFI's physical education classes were just a "facade" and were used to impart arms training to its cadre.

Wahidur Rahman Jainullabudeen was taken into custody Thursday by the ED's Special Task Force (STF) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) from Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

The agency made the arrest after conducting searches at Jainullabudeen's house. He was brought to Delhi Thursday night and a special PMLA court sent him to ED custody on Friday, according to the ED.

It said Jainullabudeen was a physical trainer with the PFI and "is closely associated" with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). It said he was also involved in cash transfers into SDPI's accounts.

An analysis of SDPI's bank accounts found that "substantial" amounts were transferred by various individuals from their bank accounts to those of SDPI and these were shown as "donations", the ED said.

"Equivalent amounts of cash were deposited into these individuals' accounts immediately before the transfer to SDPI. Cash deposit slips obtained from the bank revealed that Jainullabudeen was the one depositing these amounts in cash in the accounts of various persons who, in turn, transferred the same to SDPI accounts," the ED claimed.

He also "transferred" funds to SDPI after depositing cash of equivalent amount in his account, it said.

"This pattern indicates that Jainullabudeen utilised these bank accounts as conduits to channel illicit funds and to project it as legitimate donation to SDPI," according to the agency.

The ED said the physical education classes of PFI were just a "facade" and the banned organisation was, in fact, giving arms training and imparting "offensive and defensive" manoeuvres using different variations of blows, punches, kicks, knife use and stick attacks.

"The intention was to promote enmity between different religions and prepare the cadres for terrorist activities," it said.

Jainullabudeen, per the ED, was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police in 2022 for throwing petrol bombs in Mettupalayam while protesting against the ban on PFI.

Fresh raids were launched by the ED on Thursday in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kerala.

The first round of searches in the SDPI case was carried out on March 6, three days after it arrested M K Faizy, the national president of SDPI, from the Delhi airport.

While seeking 55-year-old Faizy's custody, the ED claimed before a court that there existed an "organic" relation between the two outfits and that the PFI was carrying out its criminal activities through the political front (SDPI).

The Centre banned the PFI in September 2022, calling it an unlawful association which allegedly indulged in terrorist activities.

Founded in 2009, the SDPI is registered as a political party with the Election Commission of India.

While seeking Faizy's remand, the ED told the court that the PFI and the SDPI were "organically" linked and the latter was nothing but the "political front" of the former, and was "funded and controlled" by it.

The agency claimed that it had evidence to state that there was a "deep-rooted" nexus between the two organisations as there was "overlapping" membership of their cadres, involvement of PFI office-bearers in the founding of the SDPI, and utilisation of each other's assets.

The agency has arrested 26 persons, attached assets worth Rs 61.72 crore and filed nine chargesheets in the case against PFI. PTI NES TIR TIR