KOZHIKODE JUNE 14 . The National Development Front (NDF) has denied reports which accused it of complicity in the mysterious Rs 336-crore transactions involving four banks.

At a press conference here today, the NDF chairman, E. Aboobacker, and the general secretary, Abdul Majid Faisi, said recent news reports linking their organisation with the controversial transactions were aimed at shielding the real culprits by the derailing the investigations that were being conducted into the bank transactions.

To stress the point that the NDF was not involved, it was pointed out that though a number of persons, including chairmen of a few banks, had been questioned in connection with the controversial transactions, no NDF member had been questioned so far.

The NDF would go to court to press for a thorough probe into the controversial bank deals, the NDF leaders said. It had also decided to resort to legal action against newspapers for raising "baseless and defamatory'' allegations.

They said the NDF was dead against financial deals that were detrimental to the economy of the nation. Clear instructions had been given to its supporters not to be party to "hawala'' and similar illegal transactions. The NDF, its leaders claimed, was not getting foreign funds.

The chairman said NDF the was being made the target of such allegations because of its staunch opposition to fascism and religious fanaticism. The BJP was accused of using intelligence agencies to tarnish NDF's image.

The NDF leader wondered why the facts about the controversial bank transactions were being suppressed even though these had been detected during the investigation. He said the NDF was determined to pursue the issue and expose the real culprits since "there has been a conspiracy to sully our image''.

The NDF has raised funds for providing relief to victims of riots in Gujarat. These would be disbursed through the All India Milli Council. In answer to a question, the NDF leader said the riots in Nadapuram had been the result of ideological deviation of Marxists. The NDF has appealed to the CPI(M) to correct the ideological deviation that had happened to their cadres leading to attack on Muslims.NDF cadres had been told to avoid conflicts with members of secular parties, the NDF leader claimed.