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NIA conduct raids in Patna, Darbhanga at suspected PFI hideouts; one held
Last year, an alleged PFI ‘terror module’ was unearthed by Bihar Police in Phulwari Sharif with the arrest of several persons, including a retired Jharkhand police officer, for their alleged links with the PFI and their plans to indulge in ‘anti-India’ activities
In a crackdown against unlawful and anti-national activities of the banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out raids in Darbhanga and Patna’s Phulwari Sharif area on Sunday morning and arrested a suspect from Chhotki Bazaar, police said.
Darbhanga senior superintendent of police (SSP) Awakash Kumar said that a raid was conducted in a joint operation with the Darbhanga Police. The identity of the arrested man had not been divulged, he added.
The NIA raided Phulwari Sharif in Patna and Darbhanga simultaneously on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, said people familiar with the development, adding the raids are still going on.
A team of NIA raided a bookshop near Imarat-e-Sharia in Phulwarisharif, Patna, while another team raided the Behera police station area of Darbhanga district.
The cases pertain to the involvement of the accused and suspected persons associated with the banned outfit in “unlawful and anti-national activities”, who assembled in the Phulwari Sharif area of Patna.
Last year, an alleged PFI ‘terror module’ was unearthed by Bihar Police in Phulwari Sharif with the arrest of several persons, including a retired Jharkhand police officer, for their alleged links with the PFI and their plans to indulge in ‘anti-India’ activities.
On the orders of the Union home ministry, the NIA took over the case on July 28 and has been since conducting raids at several locations in Bihar since July last year in connection with the Phulwari Sharif case.
Earlier, on April 25 in Darbhanga, separate teams of NIA had raided a place at Neem Chouk in Urdu Bazaar, the house of Dr Shariq Raza, a dentist, and Mohammad Mehboob.
The NIA had carried searches in multiple locations including at Patna, Darbhanga, East Champaran, Nalanda and Madhubani districts on July 28 last year at the premises of accused and suspects in the case pertaining to the involvement of suspects associated with the PFI in anti-national activities, as per press statement issued by the agency earlier.
