New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted massive search operations at 17 locations across four states targeting the banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with a terror case.
According to sources, the searches that began early this morning were on in the states of Bihar, UP, Punjab and Goa. NIA teams were conducting raids at 12 locations in Bihar, two locations in Uttar Pradesh, and one location each in Punjab’s Ludhiana and Goa.
An official communication by the probe agency is awaited.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had on September 28 declared the PFI and its eight affiliates "unlawful associations" for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The ban came shortly after the NIA, ED and various state police forces carried out a coordinated nationwide crackdown on the PFI.
In 2019, the Uttar Pradesh government sought a ban on the PFI for its alleged involvement in anti-CAA protests in parts of the state.
The Central government's ban on the PFI was imposed on several counts centred on terror, including terror funding and training. Consequently, hundreds of its leaders have been apprehended in the past few days.
As per the sources, the specific reasons for the Union government to ban the outfit pertains to the PFI's efforts to "radicalise" vulnerable people of a community, its links to other terrorist organisations, including the IS, and more significantly, posing a threat to India's internal security by way of involvement in major violent incidents that point at the PFI.
Further details are awaited.
With inputs from IANS