The Popular Front of India’s offices and the homes of its state and district level officials were searched by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday due to allegations that they had participated in terrorist activities. This was done across ten states. In the course of the searches, they also apprehended about 100 persons who had connections to the PFI. The searches were the ‘largest-ever investigation procedure to date,’ according to the officials.
According to sources who spoke to The Indian Express, the authorities were acting on the presumption that the persons under investigation were reportedly involved in setting up terror camps and recruiting young people to engage in terrorism. ‘We have decided to launch raids after we have obtained some critical pieces of evidence against them, and we are conducting searches at the premises of those allegedly involved in funding terrorism, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join the PFI,’ sources added.
The NIA’s investigation, according to sources, involved at least 10 locations in Bengaluru and other regions of Karnataka, including the home of PFI state president Nazeer Pasha. According to police sources cited by PTI, the NIA raided PFI and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) headquarters in Mangaluru at Bajpe, Nellikai Road, Kulai, and Kavoor. While SDPI and PFI activists protested the searches in front of their offices, two persons were detained, according to the news source. Officials from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) totally closed the Nellikai road as security was increased around the city.
The NIA requested that the state police make all necessary security preparations to maintain law and order prior to conducting operations. ‘ We strongly reject the fascist regime’s efforts to deploy agencies to muzzle opposition voices,’ the PFI responded in a statement. In a statement, the PFI said that ‘raids are occurring at the residences of its national, state, and local officials. Raids are also being conducted at the state committee headquarters’.
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