The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted a coordinated series of raids in five states on Sunday (August 13), uncovering a conspiracy by the Popular Front of India (PFI) to disrupt peace and sow communal discord. The operation, which aimed to destabilise the country and promote a violent agenda, yielded significant incriminating materials and digital devices, news agency PTI reported citing an official.
According to the report, fourteen locations in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Bihar were searched. The raids resulted in the seizure of critical evidence, including digital devices and documents. The spokesperson emphasised the seriousness of the situation, stating that the raids targeted specific districts such as Kannur and Malappuram in Kerala, Dakshin Kannada in Karnataka, Nashik and Kolhapur in Maharashtra, Murshidabad in West Bengal, and Katihar in Bihar, as per the report.
The official told PTI: "The NIA has been working to unravel and thwart the attempts by PFI and its top leadership to create an armed cadre and raise a PFI Army for establishing an Islamic caliphate in India by 2047 through acts of terror, violence and sabotage. PFI has been conspiring to radicalise gullible youth and provide them weapons training in a bid to further its violent anti-India agenda by fighting against certain sections of the society."
According to the report, the agency suspects that several mid-level PFI agents are acting as master trainers, organising arms training camps in different states in order to radicalise their cadres. The NIA had been meticulously conducting operations over the past months, based on intelligence and investigative analysis, to identify and apprehend these individuals, according to the spokesperson, it added.
The NIA became involved in the PFI case in April of the previous year, when it filed a complaint against the organisation. Following extensive nationwide operations in September 2022, multiple top PFI leaders, including more than a dozen National Executive Council members, were apprehended. In March, a comprehensive charge sheet was filed against PFI as an organisation and 19 of its members, followed by a supplementary charge sheet in April against the PFI national coordinator of weapons training.