Nearly 100 activists and top leaders of the Popular Front of India (PFI) have been detained so far in the raids across several States
Nearly 100 activists and top leaders of the Popular Front of India (PFI) have been detained so far in the raids across several States
Over 100 top leaders and functionaries of Popular Front of India (PFI) were arrested in early morning raids led by the National Investigation Agency across 10 States.
The agency is investigating support of terror activities in the country. A senior official told The Hindu that the raids have been carried out by NIA, Enforcement Directorate and State Police across States in a coordinated action. The NIA termed it as the “largest-ever investigation process till date”.
A tense situation evolved in Kerala, with scores of PFI activities turning out in strength to protest the raids. The police have upped their street presence to pre-empt any violence. The activists raised slogans against the Central government and squatted on the road in front of PFI offices and homes of leaders where the raids were on.
The detained reportedly included PFI national general secretary Nassarudeen Elamaram, Kerala State general secretary A. Abdul Sattar, former PFI national council member Karamana Ashraf Moulavi, former PFI chairperson E. Aboobacker, PFI State committee member, Yahiya Thanga and PFI district secretary, Pathanamthitta, Sadiq Ahmed, among others.
Raids in Coimbatore, Mangaluru
In Coimbatore, the NIA took A.S. Ismail, national executive committee member, into custody after a search at the leader’s residence at Karumbukadai.
A large number of PFI workers thronged the location hearing about the search operation by the NIA. The local police removed them to avoid law and order issues.
In Mangaluru, NIA sleuths searched the offices of PFI and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The search operation began at 6 a.m. from the offices of PFI and SDPI in Nellikai road in the central part of the city. Barricades were placed at the entrances of the road to block movement of locals.
Terror funding
The officials said the searches are taking place at the premises of persons involved in terror funding, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations.
The Popular Front of India (PFI), in a statement, said, “The raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of PFI. The state committee office is also being raided.
“We strongly protest the fascist regime’s move to use agencies to silence dissenting voices,” it said.
The ED has been investigating the PFI’s alleged “financial links” on charges of fuelling the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in the country, the Delhi riots that took place in February, 2020, alleged conspiracy in the Hathras (a district in Uttar Pradesh) case of alleged gang-rape and death of a Dalit woman, and a few other instances.
The PFI entered Kerala’s political scene around 2006 and soon spread to other states. It later shifted its national headquarters from Kozhikode to New Delhi. The PFI portrays itself as a national movement for the human rights and emancipation of minorities, backward class and Dalit and tribal sections of society.
Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) had repeatedly termed the PFI an Islamist outfit and blamed the organisation for several political murders in Kerala.
The ED has filed two charge sheets against PFI and its office-bearers before a special PMLA court in Lucknow.
In February last year, the ED filed its first charge sheet against PFI and its student wing Campus Front of India (CFI) on money laundering charges, claiming its members wanted to “incite communal riots and spread terror” in the aftermath of the alleged Hathras gang-rape.
Those named in the charge sheet include K. A. Rauf Sherif, national general secretary of CFI and a member of PFI; Atikur Rahman, national treasurer of campus front of India (CFI); Masud Ahmed, Delhi-based general secretary of CFI; journalist “associated with PFI” Siddique Kappan and Mohammed Alam, another CFI/PFI member.
In the second charge sheet filed this year, the ED had claimed that a hotel based in the UAE hotel “served” as a money laundering front for the PFI.
(With inputs from PTI)
