The Popular Front of India (PFI) organised a training camp with an intent to cause disturbance during Prime Minister Narendra Modi;s visit in Patna on July 12, the Enforcement Directorate has claimed. The revelations came two days after a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency on September 22, which led to the arrest of 106 PFI activists from 11 States for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.
The ED made the revelations in its two separate remand reports—one submitted before a special judge in Lucknow against Muhammed Shafeeque Payeth, a resident of Kozhikode in Kerala, and the other against Perwez Ahmed before a special court in Delhi, reported ANI. Both Payeth and Perwez were arrested during the nation-wide raids on September 22.
The remand report also claims that more than Rs 120 crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI and related entities over the years, and that a very large part of the same has been deposited in cash.
“Investigations have further established the criminal conspiracy of PFI in raising and collecting funds through unknown and suspicious sources from within the country as well as abroad and the subsequent transfer, layering and integration of such funds for eventual use in their continuous unlawful activities over time which include, but are not limited to inciting violence and fomenting trouble leading to Delhi riots of February 2020.”
The NIA earlier claimed that the documents seized during the raids conducted at PFI offices its leaders contained highly incriminating materials targeting prominent leaders of a particular community.
The agency alleged that the radical Islamist outfit encouraged youth to join terrorist groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In a remand report submitted before a special NIA court, the agency also claimed that the PFI conspired to establish Islamic rule in India by committing terrorist act as a part of violent jihad.
