A view of National Investigation Agency, in New Delhi. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
In a fresh crackdown against the cadres of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is carrying out searches at more than a dozen locations in various parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The places being searched by the NIA include 12 in Bihar, two in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Punjab’s Ludhiana and Goa.
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The agency is conducting raids in Darbhanga’s Urdu market in Bihar. According to police sources, the team has reached there to investigate the activities related to the banned PFI organisation. The raid is being done on Dr. Sarik Raza, a dentist located in the Urdu Bazaar of Darbhanga city and Mehboob, a resident of Shankarpur village in Singhwara police station area, in connection with the banned organisation PFI.
In another place in Bihar, Motihari, the NIA team raided the Kuanwa village of Chakia subdivision in the East Champaran district. A raid is being conducted at Sajjad Ansari’s residence in a case related to PFI. Sajjad is working in Dubai for the last 14 months, sources said.
The NIA team has confiscated Sajjad’s Aadhaar card, PAN card and some documents from his residence, sources added. The Union Home Ministry had in September last year declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates an ‘Unlawful Association’. It had said that PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been found to be involved in serious offences, including terrorism and its financing, targeted gruesome killings, disregarding the constitutional set-up of the country, disturbing public order etc. which are prejudicial to the integrity, security and sovereignty of the country.
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The Home Ministry said it found it necessary to curb the nefarious activities of the organisation. It declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) along with its associates or affiliates or fronts including Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala as “unlawful association” under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.