In NIA-ED raids on PFI, highest number of arrests are from Kerala

New Delhi, Sep 22: In a major operation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Enforcement Directorate and local police launched multiple raids across 13 states to crackdown on terror activities and funding. The raids conducted in states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Assam began at around 3.30 am on Thursday and over 101 leaders of the Popular Front of India have been arrested so far.

22 arrests were made in Kerala making it the highest followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra (20 each). In Tamil Nadu and Assam 10 and nine arrests were made respectively while in Uttar Pradesh it was eight, Andhra Pradesh, five and Madhya Pradesh, four.

Further there were three arrests each in Delhi and Puducherry and two in Rajasthan. The PFI has said that this is a clear case of the government using agencies to silence the dissenting voices. The organisation also said that chairman O M A Salam had been taken into custody and his home in Mallapuram, Kerala had been searched.

The NIA took into custody four PFI leaders in Thiruvananthapuram. The homes and offices of PFI leaders including Salam were raided. The homes of Kerala unit state chief, C P Mohammad Basheer, national secretary V P Nazarudheen and national council member P Kya were raided and all four have been taken into custody.

In Karnataka the police detained workers from the PFI and its political wing, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Mangaluru. Raids also took place in Bengaluru.

In Tamil Nadu the raids were conducted at the PFI offices in Dindigul district and the homes of the office bearers in Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Theni, Thenkasi and Ramnad districts. The PFI office in Chennai and 8 places in Madurai were also searched.

In Bihar the raids were conducted in Purnia district. The NIA and ED sealed the PFI's head office in Hyderabad's Chandrayangutta.

In Maharashtra the NIA detained 20 people linked to the PFI. Among the 20 are two office bearers from Pune. In Assam nine persons linked with the PFI were arrested.

Earlier this month, the NIA had raided 38 locations in Telangana and two in Andhra Pradesh. During the raid, the NIA seized Rs 8.31 lakh cash, documents, weapons, digital devices and documents.