Guwahati: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at 56 places in Kerala on Thursday across connection with the Popular Front of India (PFI) conspiracy case.
The Ministry of Home Affairs banned PFI and its affiliates for a period of five years in September of this year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, by designating it as an unlawful association. Searches are still ongoing at the homes and workplaces of several suspects who have connections to PFI cadres.
According to reports, the raids against PFI cadres began early on Thursday in coordination with state police in response to specific inputs against those who are accused of their involvement in a number of terrorist acts and the murder of numerous people, including Sanjith (Kerala, November 2021), V-Ramalingam (Tamil Nadu, 2019), Nandu (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Kamataka, 2017), R.Rudresh (Kamataka, 2016), Praveen Puyari (Karnataka, 2016), and Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016).
The MHA had previously stated that the PFI cadres had committed crimes and committed gruesome killings only for the sake of “disturbing public peace and tranquilly and creating a reign of terror in the public mind.”
Reportedly, the MHA has also noted “international links between PFI and Global Terrorist Groups” and that some of the organization’s activists have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and taken part in terrorist acts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The State Police and Central Agencies have also arrested some of these PFI cadres affiliated to ISIS in these crisis zones and the PFI also has connections to Jamat-ul-Muyahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a designated terrorist group.
More than 150 places nationwide have been searched by the NIA so far this year for PFI cadres.