[ad_1]
By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu, Jitendra Bahadur Singh: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached two floors of a school building in Pune that was being used by the now-banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) as a training centre for terrorist activities.
The PFI was found to be recruiting Muslim men into the outfit at these premises and providing them with arms training to carry out targeted killings and attacks against leaders and organisations of a particular community, the central agency said in a statement.
The 4th and 5th floors of the Blue Bell School Building were attached by NIA as ‘proceeds of terrorism’ under the provisions of UAPA in a case registered by the agency last year.
READ | How outlawed Popular Front of India is bypassing the ban in Karnataka
The central probe agency had named 20 accused, including the PFI, in its chargesheet last month.
The investigations conducted by the NIA revealed that the PFI was part of a criminal conspiracy to “establish Caliphate and Islamic Rule in India by waging war against the country and toppling the democratically elected government”. The outfit was declared an ‘unlawful association’ in September 2022.
ALSO READ | Why has the Centre banned Popular Front of India?
It had conducted a search of the two floors of the school premises on September 22 last year and had seized incriminating documents. These documents revealed that the said property was used by the accused, found to be associated with the PFI, for organising arms training for its cadres. The training camps served as platforms to incite Muslim men against the government, as well as leaders and organisations of a particular community.
“The camps were also used to inflame their passions and provoke them into embracing violent jihad, with the aim of committing terrorist activities. Newly recruited PFI cadres were trained in the use of dangerous weapons, like knife and sickles for attacking and murdering prominent leaders opposed to the outfit’s ideology of establishing an Islamic Rule in India,” the NIA said in a statement.
ALSO READ | NIA files fresh chargesheet against 19 members of PFI
[ad_2]
