According to reports, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at 56 places across Kerala on Thursday in connection with the Popular Front of India (PFI) conspiracy case.
The searches at the homes and offices of several suspects with ties to PFI cadres are still ongoing. PFI was banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs in September this year, along with its associates and affiliates, for a period of five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, by declaring it an unlawful association.
The raids began early Thursday in coordination with state police in response to specific inputs against PFI cadres accused of involvement in several terrorist acts and the murder of several people, including Sanjith (Kerala, November 2021), V-Ramalingam (Tamil Nadu, 2019), Nandu (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Kamataka, 2017), R.Ru (Tamil Nadu, 2016).
The MHA had earlier claimed that the criminal actions and barbaric killings had been carried out by the PFI cadres for the sole purpose of “disturbing public peace and serenity and creating a reign of terror in the public psyche”.
The MHA further stated that the PFI had “international links with Global Terrorist Groups,” and that some of its activists have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and participated in terror acts in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Some of these PFI members related to ISIS have been slain in these battle theatres and some have been detained by State Police and Central Agencies additionally the PFI has ties with Jamat-ul-Muyahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned terrorist group.
So far this year, the NIA has searched more than 150 places throughout the country for PFI cadres.
