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80 PFI men held in K’taka after raids
State-wide raids were conducted based on intelligence inputs that the suspects in custody were planning to incite communal tensions across Karnataka, a senior officer said. Raids were carried out in Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Mangaluru, Hassan, Bidar, and Raichur, among other places
Based on the inputs from central intelligence agencies, Karnataka police placed around 80 members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) under preventive custody, officials in the know of the developments said on Wednesday.
State-wide raids were conducted based on intelligence inputs that the suspects in custody were planning to incite communal tensions across Karnataka, one of the senior officers said. Raids were carried out in Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Mangaluru, Hassan, Bidar, Chikkaballapura, Raichur, and Ramanagara among other places.
The police took these PFI leaders into custody under Section 110 of the CrPC on charges of disturbing the peace of the society, said the senior officer.
Additional director general of police (ADGP), law and order, Alok Kumar said: “Raids were conducted based on the inputs of a conspiracy being hatched to create unrest in the state.”
“Last week National Investigation Agency (NIA) had conducted raids in Karnataka and arrested seven people. Later, Karnataka police had made 13 more arrests. While continuing the police action, we received information that some people were planning to incite communal violence. Based on this intelligence input, the preventive detentions have been made,” he said.
The senior officer said that so far 80 people have been taken into preventive custody in the eight-hour long raids. “The operation started as early as 3 am and we concluded it around 11 am. Those taken in custody have been presented before respective magistrates. They will be released only after furnishing two surety, out of which one should be from a government servant,” said Kumar.
The ADGP added that there will be more preventive action. “We have taken around 80% of the suspects into preventive custody. The rest are being questioned as of now and action will be taken in the due course,” he said.
A senior intelligence officer who did not want to be named said that the intelligence input stated that large-scale protests were being planned after the Friday prayers in the state.
Meanwhile, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday termed the operation as a “preventive measure”. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said that “police had to take certain preventive measures based on the inputs”. The same was done by the police of other states, he said.
“I don’t have the (exact) number of persons arrested so far. I will collect details and share them with the media,” he said.
Reacting to the raids, PFI workers slammed the police action claiming it was an attempt to “create an atmosphere of violence”. “The Bharatiya Janata Party government is doing this and creating an atmosphere of terror. The NIA has carried out so many raids but has got no proof. We are not anti-nationals. We are protesting legally and won’t tolerate them taking away our leaders in the dead of the night,” said a PFI member from Raichur, who did not want to be named.
“If they don’t release them, we will have to continue our protests. We are not going to get scared of the police and NIA and will legally continue the agitation,” said the member.
“The BJP has been a failure in India and Karnataka. Since they have nothing to show in front of the people, they are attempting these things,” the person cited above said.
In Kolar district, police arrested six people. In Chamarajanagar two people were detained. In Dakshina Kannada district 11 PFI and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) members were taken into custody while 20 PFI members were detained in Shivamogga.
Seven PFI and SDPI members have been arrested in Bagalkot district and sent to judicial custody till October 3. In Raichur, two PFI leaders were arrested and one of them was remanded to judicial custody. Police are yet to release a complete list of raids conducted and the location of the preventive custody.
In Belagavi, several teams of police led by deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Ravindra Gadadi raided the houses of PFI activists on Tuesday. The teams raided the houses around 4 in the morning and inquired them at the Market police station.
In another development, the activists led by party’s district president Naveed Katagi and former district president Zakiullah Faizi blocked the Pune-Bengaluru national highway at Kakati to protest the NIA raids.
All the seven activists of the PFI who were rounded up from their houses in Belagavi in the early hours of Tuesday were remanded to judicial custody in the afternoon.
After completion of inquiry at the Market police station, the arrested, due to security reasons were taken for a medical examination at Vantamuri Primary Heath Centre in Belagavi taluk instead of the district hospital in Belagavi , following which they were produced before a court in Belagavi and sent to jail.
In Hassan, police arrested Siddique Anemahal, president of the SDPI unit at Achangi village in Sakleshpur on Tuesday morning. General secretary of the Hassan unit of SDPI Sayyed Fareed too was arrested, said police.
Hassan superintendent of police (SP) Hariram Shankar told reporters that Anemahal was arrested and produced before the executive magistrate under the preventive arrest sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure .
Last Thursday, scores of PFI activists were detained or arrested as the NIA led multi-agency raids on the premises of the organisation and people linked to it as part of a nationwide crackdown across 10 states for allegedly supporting terror activities.
During those raids in Karnataka, simultaneous raids were conducted in Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Kalaburagi, Davanagere, Raichur and Koppal.
A day after this, Bengaluru police had arrested 14 people on charges of spreading communal hatred and hatching criminal conspiracies. Most of the arrested were workers of PFI, said a police official. Police commissioner CH Pratap Reddy said the suspects were picked up for questioning in connection with a suo motu case registered at the city’s KG Halli police station. A court in Bengaluru had remanded these 14 people to police custody till October 3.
