Year-long chase concludes! 4 persons booked in Patna for promoting anti-national activities of PFI

Patna, Aug 4: The National Investigation Agency ( NIA ) has filed a supplementary chargesheet against four persons in the case relating to unlawful and anti-national activities of the banned Popular Front of India ( PFI ) in Patna.

The fresh chargesheet has been filed in a special NIA court in Bihar's Patna district against Md Tanweer alias Md Tanweer, Md Aabid, Md Belal and Md Irshad Alam, all residents of the East Champaran district of Bihar. The four accused PFI cadres were operating, along with other accused in planning of violent criminal acts by arranging arms and ammunition and in propagating the PFI ideology and agenda of violent extremism, said the NIA. They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and Arms Act, 1959.

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A total of 15 accused, including the four charge-sheeted PFI cadres, have been arrested so far for promoting the unlawful activities of the banned outfit and channelizing illegal funds from abroad to the PFI members and accused persons in this case. As per NIA investigations, Md Irshad Alam is a member of the criminal syndicate which was involved, along with other PFI cadres, in a criminal conspiracy related to attacking and killing a youth belonging to a particular community, with the intention to spread terror and communal hatred.

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Md Tanweer and Md Abid had already terror hardware for carrying out the hate crime and had handed over the same to one of the arrested accused, Yaqub Khan, said the anti-terror agency. "Yaqub is a PFI master trainer of weapons and tactics and had conducted multiple arms training sessions for furthering the banned outfit’s violent and unlawful activities," said the NIA.

“The case was initially registered on July 12 last year at PS Phulwarisharif Police Station in Bihar's Patna district against 26 persons. It was taken over and re-registered by the NIA on July 22 last year. On January 7 this year, the NIA filed a chargesheet against four persons in the case in which investigations are continuing.”