New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed its fifth chargesheet in March against the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI).
In the latest filing on Saturday in a Delhi case it has named 19 people, including 12 national executive council (NEC) members, for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to wage a war to establish an Islamic Caliphate in the country.
With this, the total number of accused chargesheeted in PFI cases across the country stands at 105.
The PFI was formed in 2006 with the merger of National Development Front (NDF) of Kerala and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) with Oma Salam becoming its Chairman, E M Abdul Rahiman Vice-chairman, V P Nazaruddin National Secretary, Anees Ahmed the national general secretary of the NEC, the top decision-making body in the outfit.
The 19 accused chargesheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act included Salam, Rahiman, Nazaruddin, Ahmed, Afsar Pasha, E Abubacker, Prof P Koya and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, an NIA spokesperson said.
Abdul Wahid Sait, A S Ismail, Mohd Yusuf, Mohammed Basheer, Shafeer K P, Jaseer K P, Shahid Nasir, Waseem Ahmed, Mohammed Shakif, Muhammed Farooq Ur Rahman and Yasar Arafat alias "Yasir Hasan" were some other key position holders in the NEC named in the chargesheet, the official said.
They were arrested in September last year following a nationwide crackdown at 39 locations, including PFI offices, across the country after the group was banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
"The case, under investigation since April 2022, had revealed that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by the PFI to divide the country on communal lines. It has also come to light that the ultimate objective of the conspiracy was to overthrow the existing system of secular and democratic governance in India and replace it with an Islamic Caliphate," the spokesperson said.
The NIA said its investigations have also exposed a trail of funding by the PFI to its terror operatives and weapons trainers across the country, both in cash and through regular bank transfers, in the guise of payment of salaries.
(With inputs from PTI)
