On Thursday evening, October 27, Kerala Officers arrested Raoof, the former Kerala secretary of the now banned PFI, from his Palakkad house. Since the day of the National Investigation Agency raids in Kerala, Raoof has missing.
On September 22 and September 27, there were two separate raids carried out by the state police, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). A total of 106 PFI members were arrested in the initial round. Meanwhile, 247 PFI cadres were taken into custody during the second round of operations.
At Kerala, raids were carried out in 28 different places. On September 23, the PFI organised a 12-hour protest in Kerala, calling the crackdown a ‘witch hunt.’ There have been reports of violence during the rally.
The raids are not surprising, according to a senior intelligence officer in Kerala who spoke to India Today, because PFI leaders and their actions have long been monitored by state and central agencies.
He added, ‘Their illegal funding, meetings and foreign visits were shadowed by the central agencies. More such raids and investigation may reveal their illegal activities.’ The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) declared the PFI and its affiliated organisations to be unlawful associations on September 28.
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