ATS arrests two ‘wanted’ PFI members, detains 70 others in UP

The UP-ATS has arrested two 'wanted' members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) from Varanasi and taken into custody 70 others from 20 districts in a statewide crackdown. The two arrested men carried a reward of ₹50,000 and were wanted in a case registered at Lohta police station of Varanasi in 2022. The arrested individuals were booked under IPC sections 153-A and 153-B and sections under the UAPA. The ADG stated that the accused were propagating the PFI?s ideology and spreading the body?s cadre base in the country.

In a fresh statewide crackdown against cadres of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), the state Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on Saturday arrested two ‘wanted’ persons from Varanasi and took into custody 70 others from 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh, senior police officials said.

t least 11 persons were detained for questioning in Shamli and 10 in Ghaziabad (For representation)

Parvez Ahmad and Raees Ahmad, both of whom carried a reward of ₹50,000 on their arrest, were nabbed in Varanasi, senior director general (SDG)-law and order Prashant Kumar said in a note on Sunday.

The two men, who were wanted in a case registered at Lohta police station of Varanasi in 2022, were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) and 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration). Sections under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were also invoked in the FIR, the SDG said.

Additional director general (ADG) of UP-ATS Naveen Arora said the two accused were propagating the PFI’s ideology and spreading the body’s cadre base in the country. He said the duo were active in violence that was reported from various corners of the state during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019. The two had since remained elusive and lived in hiding by changing their locations, Arora added.

The ADG said 30 ATS teams took part in the statewide raids on alleged PFI members on Saturday.

At least 11 persons were detained for questioning in Shamli and 10 in Ghaziabad. Similarly, nine others were taken into custody in Lucknow, eight in Varanasi, five in Bijnor, four in Meerut, three each in Barabanki, Azamgarh and Muzaffarnagar, two each in Bahraich, Deoria and Kanpur and one each in Sitapur, Balrampur, Siddarthnagar, Bulandshahr, Saharanpur, Moradadbad, Rampur and Amroha.

The ADG said these persons were being interrogated and their social media activities analysed.