PFI wanted a 20 member hit squad in every district to target Hindus

In January the NIA had arrested one Mohammad Sadiq, a reporter from Kerala. He was in the process of passing on information on Hindu leaders to the Hit Squads

In a note, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that it had managed to hole out and overpower one Thufail M H from his hideout in Bengaluru.

Thufail is the head of the Popular Front of India's (PFI) Service Team or Hit Team and former District Secretary of Kodagu, Karnataka.

Tufail was wanted in the murder case of Praveen Nettaru, BJP Yuva Morcha Member, who was murdered by PFI cadres in July 2022 in Bellare village of Sullia Taluk in Dakshina Kannada District, the NIA said.

Thufail M H had played a significant role in PFI's larger conspiracy to murder leaders of a particular community. He also provided shelter and safe harbor at Ashiyana residency of Koppa Village, Mysuru District to the 3 assailants of this case, who had recced and then hacked Praveen Nettaru to death, the NIA also said.

The hit squads of the PFI have come under the scanner of the agency in the past as well. It was a well oiled mechanism of the outfit aimed at targeting Hindu leaders, the NIA learnt.

The outfit was in the process of building hit-squads in every district in the country. The squads would be governed by the Dawah courts, which would issue orders to execute a killing. An official explained that every district was to be equipped with 20 persons who would be part of the hit squad. The job of these persons would be split into identification, surveillance, gathering information and execution.

These members after being roped in would be trained in the use of arms. The idea was to eliminate every powerful Hindu voice and spread fear in the minds of the people, the official further explained.

The hit squads were funded by money that came in through hawala channels. The NIA also unearthed a PFI funding hawala module which was operating out of Bihar and Karnataka.

In a statement, the NIA said, "a PFI funding-by-hawala module operating out of Bihar and Karnataka with roots in the UAE has been busted with the arrests of five PFI operatives from Kasargod, Kerala and Dakshin Kannada, Karnataka. PFI cadres in Phulwarisharif and Motihari had vowed to continue PFI activities in a clandestine manner in Bihar and had also arranged a firearm and ammunition recently to eliminate a youth of a particular community in Bihar's East Champaran District. Three operatives of the module had been arrested on February 5, 2023."

Five operatives were also arrested in connection with this terror funding module.

Popular Front of India (PFI) members Mahammad Sinan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Iqbal and Abdul Rafeek M of Karnataka and Abid K M of Kerala have been arrested, the NIA said.

Coming back to the Hit Squads, the team also comprised reporters, who were tasked with gathering information. They would go to events under the garb of covering the same. They would listen in carefully to the speeches made and then report it back to the rest of the members.

In January one Mohammad Sadiq was arrested from Kollam district in Kerala. He was making a list of non-Muslim leaders and was in the process of passing on the information to the Hit Squad.