Kin of jailed Kerala PFI leader booked for smuggling SIM card in holy book

The wife and son of T N Sainuddin came to visit him at the Thrissur central jail on October 31 and handed over a copy of Quran to jail authorities to be given to the jailed PFI leader

The Kerala police on Saturday registered a case against two relatives of a jailed Popular Front of India (PFI) leader for allegedly trying to smuggle a SIM card hidden in a holy book to the Thrissur central jail, officials said.

The jail authorities turned suspicious and examined the holy book thoroughly and found a SIM card hidden under the thick bind of it. (Representative Image)

Police said the wife and son of T N Sainuddin came to visit him on October 31 and handed over a copy of Quran to jail authorities to be given to the jailed PFI leader. A senior leader hailing from Idukki district, Sainuddin was arrested after the PFI was banned by the Union government in September.

The jail authorities turned suspicious and examined the holy book thoroughly and found a SIM card hidden under the thick bind of the holy book. They later informed the police and a case was registered against both relatives under non-bailable sections, said a senior police official. He also said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was informed about the incident.

It is not immediately known in whose name the card was registered and the intention behind the move, he said. All PFI leaders were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Earlier, NIA had instructed jail authorities to strictly restrict visitors to the jailed PFI leaders. During the countrywide raids against PFI, the maximum number of leaders (112) were arrested from the state.

After the countrywide raids and arrest of many PFI leaders, the outfit had given a call for state bandh on September 23 which witnessed large-scale violence leaving many injured. Later, the high court registered a suo moto case on and directed the police to make the PFI leaders, who had given the bandh call, as accused in all bandh-related cases. The state police have arrested 2,500 PFI activists and registered 350 cases in connection with violence. Most of them are still in jail as they failed to cough up damages incurred during the shutdown.