The National Investigation Agency has filed a charge sheet against 11 people accused of being involved in organising terror training camps and recruitment of youngsters for the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in Telangana, PTI reported. Moreover, a lawyer is also arrested in relation to the Kerela PFI case.
The charge sheet against the accused, 10 belonging to Telangana and one to Andhra Pradesh was filed before the NIA Special Court in Hyderabad on Thursday. The investigative agency had on Thursday morning conducted raids in 56 locations across the state of Kerala in PFI case. Search operations are being conducted in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Idukki, among other places in Kerala.
"Once recruited into the PFI (Popular Front of India), Muslim youths were sent to training camps organised by the PFI under the cover and guise of yoga classes and physical education" the NIA official said.
"In the beginner's course, they were trained in the use of everyday articles (knife, sickle and iron rods) to kill a person by attacking vulnerable body parts such as throat, stomach and head, and for commission of terror acts", the spokesperson said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in September had banned the PFI and its sister organisations for five years under Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Raids began late Wednesday night, according to PTI, in cooperation with local state police at the premises and offices of individuals suspected to have links to the PFI. They are still underway.
Visuals from Ernakulam show local police and journalists standing outside a location where a raid is underway.
Raids were conducted on Thursday at the residences of seven PFI State Executive Committee members, seven Zonal Head, 15 Physical Training Instructors-Trainers and seven cadres trained to use knives, daggers, swords and other weapons, the NIA told ANI.
These searches have led to the recovery and seizure of sharp-edged weapons, incriminating material and digital devices, the NIA says. PFI has been found justifying the use of criminal force and encouraging vulnerable youth to join terrorist organisations, they say.
Multi-agency teams spearheaded by the NIA had arrested several functionaries including top leaders of the PFI in September in near simultaneous raids at over 150 locations in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.
The government in September had said that if the PFI and its fronts were not banned, they would use the opportunity to indulge in unlawful activities, including radicalising a particular section of society.
Officials then had described the mega crackdown as the "largest-ever investigation process till date" against the PFI.
With agency inputs.
First Published: Dec 29, 2022 8:53 AM IST
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