Raids against PFI continue,  more than 36 suspects  detained for interrogation

| | Lucknow
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Raids against PFI continue,  more than 36 suspects  detained for interrogation

Wednesday, 28 September 2022 | PNS | Lucknow

Raids against the Popular Front of India members continued on Tuesday as the joint team of Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) and Special Task Force (STF) on the inputs of National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the premises of PFI members at several locations, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh. The sleuths picked up over three dozen suspects for interrogation.

Meanwhile, ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that people associated with PFI and its affiliated organisations have been raided by STF, ATS and police simultaneously in several districts, including Meerut, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Shamli. During this, a total of 27 people were detained and legal action will be taken on the basis of the evidence recovered.

According to reports, on  the basis of disclosures made by 106 PFI members held during the first raids by NIA on September 22, the investigative agency continued to target the PFI members as they, with the help of local ATS, again raided several places, including in Uttar Pradesh, since the wee hours of Tuesday.

Sources said the Lucknow unit of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) raided the bases of the radical Islamic organisation PFI in Bulandshahr on Tuesday and arrested of two of its members.  

However, according to information received from sources, the ATS detained about two dozen people for questioning from the Siana area of Bulandshahr. The ATS raided the house of PFI member Khaliq Ansari at 4 am on Tuesday at Mohalla Uparkot in Bulandshahr City Kotwali area and took him into custody. All mobile phones and documents belonging to Khaliq’s family were also confiscated by the ATS.

Khaliq Ansari has also been the city president of the Samajwadi Party (SP). At present, he is said to be an active member of MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM and Bharatiya Kisan Union.

Khaliq also owns a school called Green Field. Meanwhile, his family claimed that Khaliq Ansari had joined PFI four months ago and resigned from its membership a month later. 

The family claimed that a large number of police personnel took Khaliq Ansari with them. The ATS also arrested a person named Afzal in Mohalla Chaudhriyan of Sayana. Afzal is a lawyer by profession and practises in Meerut.

After Bulandshahr, the raids were conducted at the locations of PFI in Aligarh and suspects were taken to the Quarsi police station for further interrogation.

In Shamli, the teams of NIA and ATS detained four people associated with PFI and its political wing SDPI.  Sources said that the security agencies picked up four suspects from different places while raiding Kairana and intensive interrogation was going on.

At night, the teams of ATS and NIA reached Mamaur village of Kairana from where two people (Maulana Zahid and Sabir) were picked up. 

According to sources, Maulana Zahid is the elder brother of Maulana Sajid, who was arrested earlier. Sabir is said to be the younger brother. 

Apart from these, Jabir from Paonti Kalan village and Sarwar Ali from Gogwan village were also picked up by  the security agencies.

In search of the PFI members, the ATS team also raided localities under the Lisadi Gate and police station and Sarurpur area of Meerut. The ATS took half-a-dozen people to grill them in the local police stations. Some objectionable items were also recovered from them. 

The raids were also conducted in Sitapur district where suspected youths named Mukeed from Asodar village of Khairabad police station area and Anees from Leopard Bahori of Rampurkalan were detained.

Earlier, a PFI member Abdul Majeed was arrested by the STF from Vibhuti Khand area in Lucknow on Sunday night. He was said to be deft at making cooker bombs.

He had a close relationship with Minhaj, a terrorist arrested from Kakori a year ago. Majeed is a resident of Mahipatmau in Kakori. After Minhaj’s arrest, he joined SDPI. Majeed also used to make objectionable remarks on non-Muslims on social media. He was arrested in 2020 and sent to jail.

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