Crackdown on ‘PFI’: Bihar cops make fourth arrest, in Lucknow

Patna’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) M S Dhillon said Jangi was being brought to Patna on a transit remand.

The Bihar Police, which had arrested three alleged members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) from Patna earlier this week, has apprehended another man from Lucknow and brought him to the state, Patna police chief said on Saturday.

BJP workers stage a protest against Patna SSP MS Dhillon on Friday. (HT)

According to police, Mohammad Nuruddin Jangi, who was arrested in Lucknow late Friday evening for allegedly attempting to create religious disharmony and indoctrinating innocent Muslims for the purpose, is a resident of Laheriasarai in Darbhanga. He had also contested 2020 assembly elections from Darbhanga under the banner of Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is allied to PFI, and polled 600 votes. He graduated in law from C N Law College in Darbhanga in 2017 and has been actively working to defend PFI and SDPI affiliated accused in courts in multiple cases.

Patna’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) M S Dhillon said Jangi was being brought to Patna on a transit remand. “We have constituted an SIT (special investigation team) under the supervision of city SP (West) Rajesh Kumar and comprising additional SP (Phulwarisharif) Manish Kumar and three inspectors to probe the entire matter,” he said.

Following raids in Patna earlier this week, police had arrested three alleged PFI members and lodged an FIR (first information report) naming 26 people as part of a “potential terror module” under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 and 121A (waging war against state), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration).

The FIR, seen by HT, however, makes no mention of the stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA.

Meanwhile, the PFI, in a statement, said Mohammad Athar Parvez and retired Jharkhand Police sub-inspector Mohammad Jalaludin, who were arrested in the first raid on Wednesday, were not associated with the outfit. “We reject all claims by Bihar Police. These two people are not members of the PFI,” said the statement issued by Abdul Rehman and Usman Gani, both state committee members.

PFI is not a banned outfit in Bihar.

Accused’s father blasts police theory

Mohammad Saifuddin, father of Margoob Ahmad Danish (26), the youth who is among those arrested so far by Patna police, claimed his son has been declared mentally ill by AIIMS.

Saifuddin also dismissed the police claim that his son had visited Saudi Arabia. “My son was born in 1996. According to police, he went to Saudi Arabia in 2006, when he was only 10. “Is it possible for any Indian citizen aged 10 years to go abroad without a valid passport. He has no passport and bank account,” Saifuddin claimed.

Phulwarisharif additional SP Manish Kumar, however, refuted Saifuddin’s allegations and told reporters that Danish was also found to have links with Pakistan-based extremist group Tehriq-e-Labbaiq.