NIA raids: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday (August 13) conducted a series of raids and searches across five states as part of its continued efforts to foil the Popular Front of India (PFI) conspiracy to disturb the peace by driving a communal wedge among the people to destabilise the country, an official said.
A total of 14 locations in Kannur, Malappuram, Dakshin Kannada, Nashik, Kolhapur, Murshidabad and Katihar districts of the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bihar were raided, according to the official.
During the raids which were aimed at unearthing the banned outfit’s conspiracy to disturb the peace and communal harmony of India, several incriminating digital devices as well as documents were seized.
“The NIA has been working to unravel and thwart the attempts by PFI and its top leadership to create an armed cadre and raise a PFI Army for establishing an Islamic Caliphate in India by the year 2047 through acts of terror, violence and sabotage,” the official added.
As per NIA investigations, PFI has been conspiring to radicalise gullible youth and provide them weapons training in a bid to further its violent anti-India agenda by fighting against certain sections of society.
“NIA suspects several mid-rung PFI agents to be operating as master trainers who have been conducting Arms Training Camps across various states of the country for training its highly radicalised PFI cadres in the use of weapons, iron rods, swords and knives,” the official said.
The NIA has been raiding multiple locations in various states over the past several months to identify and arrest these cadres and operatives on the basis of intelligence and investigative analysis and insights.
The case against PFI was registered by NIA, Delhi, in April 2022.
“Incriminating evidence was collected by the agency, leading to the arrest of several top PFI leaders, including over a dozen NEC members, following country-wide operations during September 2022,” the official said.
The NIA conducted intensive investigations against the accused and filed a chargesheet against 19 of them in March 2023. PFI as an organisation was also named in the chargesheet. Subsequently, in April 2023, a supplementary chargesheet was filed against the PFI National Coordinator of weapons training.
“Investigations are continuing to unearth and expose the complete PFI conspiracy to indoctrinate and train susceptible youth to create mayhem in the country. The eventual aim of the conspiracy is to create an Islamic State by the time India completes a century of its independence,” the official added.
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