This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

Indira Jaising, Kapil Sibal, Dushyant Dave Deny Receiving Money From PFI For Anti-CAA Protests

This was after reports that the Enforcement Directorate told the Ministry of Home Affairs alleged that PFI was funding anti-CAA protests.
Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising in a file photo.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising in a file photo.

Senior advocates Indira Jaising, Dushyant Dave and Congress leader Kapil Sibal denied taking money from the Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests, as alleged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Jaising released a statement on Monday saying, “I completely and vehemently deny having received any money from PFI at a any point of time, or receiving any money from any person of organization in relation to anti-CAA protests.”

Jaising added that she will take “serious civil and criminal legal action” against any person or media organisation that tried to “scandalize” her reputation.

This comes even as The Indian Express reported that the ED note claimed that Kerala-based PFI had funded anti-CAA protests.

The report said that while the note to MHA does not mention these alleged payments were related to the anti-CAA protests, it claimed that Congress’s Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising and Dushyant Dave had received money from them.

The Indian Express quoted the ED note as saying, “The scrutiny of deposits and withdrawals from bank accounts of PFI and its related entities has revealed there is a direct correlation between dates of deposit/withdrawal of money from the bank accounts and dates of demonstration/gherao against CAA in different parts of the country.”

Meanwhile, Sibal said that the money he received from PFI was for the Hadiya case in 2018. According to an IANS report, Sibal said that he received Rs 77 as litigation fee from PFI for appearing in the Supreme Court for Hadiya in the case in connection to her marriage to Shafiya Jahan.

Dave also said that he had appeared in the case thrice and that it was public knowledge that PFI had raised money for the case.

“It is very unfortunate that the issue is being raised now when the PFI had itself in 2018 made a statement that it had spent a total of Rs 99,52,324 on fighting Hadiya case,” he told the daily. “I appeared in the case thrice and one bill was raised for the appearance on October 9, 2017 for which we received the fee on October 30,” Dave was quoted by The Times of India as saying.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.