India: ED gets seven-day custody of PFI's student wing leader

 Campus Front of India (CFI)

Kochi, Dec 17 (PTI) A court here on Thursday granted the Enforcement Directorate seven days custody of Popular Front of Indias student wing leader K A Rauf Sharif, arrested by it in connection with a money laundering probe being conducted against the Kerala-based outfit.

Considering a plea by the ED, the Special Court on Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases here sent the Campus Front of India (CFI) leader to its custody till December 24.

The ED arrested Sharif after he was apprehended by authorities at Thiruvananthapuram airport on Saturday.

In a remand report submitted in the court here a day after his arrest, the ED had stated Sharif, national general secretary of CFI, had funded the trip of Siddique Kappan, a Delhi-based Kerala journalist and three others to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit woman had died after being allegedly gang-raped.

Kappan and three others were arrested by the UP police in October while being on their way to Hathras.

The agency has also alleged that Sharif had received huge amounts of money in his bank accounts through suspicious transactions.