Shillong, April 25: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at about 17 locations throughout Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab, among other states, as part of a fresh crackdown on the cadres of the outlawed organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).
NIA conducted raids at two locations in Uttar Pradesh, twelve in Bihar, one in Ludhiana, Punjab, and one in Goa, India.
This comes after the Assam Police arrested three leaders of the outlawed groups Campus Front of India (CFI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) on April 8 in the Barpeta region of Assam. In addition, police found four mobile phones, Rs 1.50 lakh in cash, and a brochure of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in the suspects’ possession.
The leaders of the PFI and CFI who were apprehended have been named as Jakir Hussain, who is also the PFI State Secretary, Abu Sama, Sahidul Islam, the CFI National Treasurer, and Hiren Nath, according to the Assam police.
The Delhi High Court’s Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, who chairs the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act Tribunal (UAPA Tribunal), supported the Union government’s decision to impose a five-year ban on PFI and its associate organisations last month.
Judge Sharma was appointed by the Union government to preside over the UAPA Tribunal last October in order to evaluate the prohibition. The PFI was banned for five years on September 28, 2022, after the Centre proclaimed it to be illegal under Section 3 of the UAPA for engaging in “illegal activities” that were harmful to the integrity, sovereignty, and security of the nation.