The FIR also contains a charge filed under section 153 A , which an ED official in Lucknow said deals with scheduled offences under the PMLA and money collected by committing this crime is liable to be confiscated by ED, followed by a 7-year arrest. He added that the agency took the decision late on Monday night.
ED will reach out to foreign enquirers and domain servers regarding the details of money collected and used and will also examine the ultimate beneficiaries of the website. The service provider of the website will also be questioned, traffic will be analysed while email IDs and phone numbers used to buy the domain or hosting will be investigated too, the official said.
The FIR against unidentified accused contains charges under several sections including section 153 A that deals with attacks made against a particular group of religion/ caste /race etc.
ED had also intervened at the time of anti-CAA protests in UP that killed more than 20 across the state last year in December. It was probing the PFI after the UP police accused the organization of causing riots during the protests. ED had said it had found financial links between the organization and the violent protests and alleged that the organization had funded the violence. PFI had denied the allegations.