The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an accused from Jaipur in Rajasthan in its crackdown against Popular Front of India (PFI) cadres allegedly involved in anti-Inida conspiracies, the agency said on Saturday.
The suspect identified as one Mohammad Sohai was arrested on Friday from Jaipur during a search operation, officials said.
According to the anti-terror agency, the suspect had “conspired to radicalise Muslim youth to commit violent and unlawful activities” and was found to have been actively involved in PFI’s criminal conspiracy to disturb the peace and spread communal hatred and enmity.
Also Read: Two more PFI activists held for conspiring to carry out targeted killings in Bihar
A month ago, on 12 January, the NIA carried out raids at nine different locations all across the state in relation to the alleged conspiracy cases.
According to the NIA, during the raids in Jaipur, Kota and Sawai Madhopur, phones, sim cards, sharp-edged knives, incriminating material, literature and posters were seized.
PFI was banned on 28 September 2022 for five years by the union home affairs ministry under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, by declaring it an unlawful association.
The centre has alleged that the political organisation had links with terror groups such as the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Also Read: Bihar: Three PFI suspects detained in Phulwari Sharif related case
According to the MHA, criminal activities and brutal murders were carried out by the PFI cadres for the sole objective of “disturbing public peace and tranquillity and creating a reign of terror in the public mind.”
In September last year, several top PFI leaders were arrested in a country-wide raid for alleged terror funding.
Notably, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in a recent charge sheet dated 9 February 2023 had alleged that the proscribed group conspired to work towards making India an “Islamic nation by 2047.”
