The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a registered case against the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and its cadres has filed four charge sheets against more than 75 defendants for alleged criminal conspiracy to establish Islamic rule in the country by 2047. All charge sheets have been filed in the past 15 days, the NIA said.
The first statement of charges was presented against two defendants. This case was registered in September 2022 to investigate the criminal conspiracy, which was allegedly hatched by PFI leaders/cadres with the aim of driving a wedge between different communities in India through radicalization, along with other allegations.
The second was filed against five defendants, and as of early December 2022, the agency had filed another charge sheet against 11 defendants in the case after taking over the investigation in August 2022 from police. from Telangana.
Charge sheets were filed on Friday in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the two states where the PFI is most active, with similar charges being made in other cases and raising funds to carry out acts of terror and violence with the ultimate goal of establishing the government. Islamic in India. for 2047.
The Kerala case
In the case registered in September 2022, the charge sheet was filed in the Special Court for NIA Cases, Ernakulam, against the PFI as an organization and 58 other accused persons. The agency arrested 16 of the defendants after taking over the case in 2022, while the others were arrested earlier by the Kerala police.
Kerala’s charge sheet was filed after searches by the NIA of more than 100 locations across the state. The agency has also seized 17 properties as they were identified as “proceeds of terrorism” and froze 18 defendants’ bank accounts during the course of its investigations.
In its Kerala charge sheet, the NIA also included the related case of the brutal murder of a Palakkad resident, Sreenivasan, who was allegedly hacked to death by armed PFI cadres. Investigations had shown that some of the defendants in the PFI criminal conspiracy case (Sept 2022) were also involved in Sreenivasan’s murder.
The investigation into the case revealed that the defendants had been plotting to drive a wedge between different communities and groups living in India, spreading the concept of violent extremism and jihad in India with the aim of dismembering and taking over the country through the Islamic establishment. to rule in India by 2047. To achieve these goals, the PFI had established various wings and units such as “Reporters Wing”, “Weapons and Physical Training Wing” and “Service Teams”.
Investigations by the NIA have revealed that the PFI was using its various campuses, facilities, and infrastructure to conduct weapons training to selected cadres under the guise of physical education, yoga training, etc. They also established a “reporters wing” and “service teams.” or Hit Teams” to eliminate their “targets”. Whenever required, PFI lobbied the service of its loyal and highly trained “Service Teams” cadres, as “executioners” of the orders issued by its parallel courts, called “Dar -ul-Qaza”.
The Chennai Charge Sheet
In a separate case registered and investigated by the National Investigation Agency branch in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the NIA also filed a charge sheet against 10 defendants on Friday. This case was also registered in September 2022 to investigate the criminal conspiracy hatched by the PFI and its leaders to divide people based on their religious affiliations through the radicalization and weapons training of young impressionable Muslims to launch a struggle. armed against the Government of India with the aim of establishing Islamic rule in India by 2047.
Some of the prominent PFI leaders and officials indicted in the case filed on Friday include State General Secretary Abdul Sathar, State Executive Member Yahiya Koya Thangal, Zonal Secretary Shihas MH Ernakulam, along with District Secretaries/Presidents Sainudheen TS, Sadik AP, CT Sulaiman and PK Usman, State Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) Kerala.
In the Tamil Nadu case, the charge sheet filed with the NIA Special Court in Chennai names 10 defendants, including Khalid Mohammed, PFI’s state vice president. This case was also registered in September 2022, when nine of the defendants were detained by NIA. The tenth defendant was arrested a few months later.
NIA investigations into the case had shown that the defendants had carried out radicalization programs to motivate, incite and recruit gullible Muslim youths, who were then given weapons training in the camps. PFI cadres used to follow instructions from team officials and leaders to conduct reconnaissance, attack opponents, and commit illegal and violent activities.
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