Since the last two days, reports have emerged that according to an Enforcement Directorate report, Popular Front of India (PFI) mobilised Rs 120 crores during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). According to an Economic Times report, the agency was investigating the Kerala-based political outfit under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2018. ED has reportedly found that at least Rs 1.04 crore was deposited in several bank accounts across the country linked to the organisation between December 4 last year and January 6, 2020. However, PFI has condemned the news reports and dubbed the allegations “baseless”. Meanwhile, several mainstream media outlets also claimed that ED has named senior lawyers in their report and funds were transferred to them by PFI during the anti-CAA protests. On January 27 at 12:32 PM, Times Now levelled a series of allegations against prominent Supreme Court lawyers Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising and Kapil Sibal linking them with the case of money laundering alleged by the Enforcement Directorate. The channel anchor said, “ED draws sensational link to the lobby”. The official Twitter handle of Indira Jaising and Kapil Sibal were tagged in the Times Now tweet. #TukdeFundedCAAStir#BREAKING | It’s out –‘Islamist radicals funded violence.’ Rs 120 crore, 73 syndicate bank accounts REVEALED. @Dir_ED draws sensational link to Lobby. @KapilSibal, @IJaising, PFI named by ED. Sabotage-‘syndicate’ behind CAA stir. | Navika Kumar with details. pic.twitter.com/6lyLORR1ec — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) January 27, 2020 At 4:12 minutes in the broadcast, Navika Kumar says, “That’s right. There are names that have been mentioned here. These we don’t know if the Enforcement Directorate has concluded whether these have any linkages to do with PFI. The fact is these are lawyers of the Popular Front of India. Kapil Sibal who has received money worth Rs 77 lakh from for the cases, he has represented them in. Indira Jaising and the other name that is known opposed to the Modi government. Four lakhs have gone to her, Dushant Dave 11 lakhs in payment.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaJ5T3NiorA] “It’s clear now anti-CAA protests are being funded by PFI. There is a clear link between the bank transfers and anti CAA protests, their timing and location. Also, read the names of the liberal leaders who are getting funds from PFI,” tweeted Zee News anchor Sudhir Chaudhary while posting a screenshot of a document. It is important to note here that the document was unsigned and undated. The tweet has now been deleted. An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here. “PFI mobilised Rs 120 crore during anti-CAA protests, Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising among recipients: Report”, read the headline of a report published by Daily News Analysis (DNA) on January 27, 2020. The report claimed that “according to sources quoted by Zee News”, Kapil Sibbal has received Rs 77 lakh whereas Indira Jaising got Rs 4 lakh. Zee News too reported, “The source said that Sibal received Rs 77 lakh, Jaising received Rs 4 lakh, Dushyant A Dave received Rs 11 lakh and Abdul Samad Rs 3.10 lakh.” Zee News Twitter handle posted the report with the following words, “How much did PFI pay Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising, Dushyant A Dave and Abdul Samand for anti-CAA protests”. However, the tweet was later taken down. According to an ANI report, ED has drawn a correlation between dates of monetary deposits in bank accounts and the dates of anti-CAA protests. However, the agency is reportedly investigating the matter. Alt News will limit the fact-check to the allegation of money received by senior lawyers during the anti-CAA protests. Alt News found that the allegation raised against senior lawyers, of receiving money from the political outfit, is from March 2018 and unrelated to the recent anti-CAA protests. In 2018, Kerala state committee of the Popular Front of India (PFI) had revealed the details of the amount it had collected and spent on the legal battle of during the Hadiya case. Hadiya, a 25-year-old woman from Kerala, had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man named Shafin Jahan. The conversion was first annulled by the high court based on a petition filed by her father and later restored by the Supreme Court. She won the case in the apex court on March 8, 2018. According to a statement released by PFI, it had spent a total of Rs 99,52,324 while fighting Hadiya’s case, dubbed as ‘love jihad case’, for 10 months. PFI had declared that it had paid Rs 93,85,000 as lawyers fees to Kapil Sibal, Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising and Marzook Bafaki, including others who had appeared in the Supreme Court in the matter. Alt News spoke to the lawyers and confirmed the details about the payment.