Army jawan, who claimed ‘PFI’ written on his back, arrested over ‘fake complaint’

The police have made no arrests so far on the case regarding the alleged assault of Army jawan and writing of ‘PFI’ on his back.

The Army jawan, who claimed he was assaulted by unidentified miscreants and ‘PFI’ was written on his back, was taken into custody on Tuesday for allegedly giving false statement about the incident. According to th soldier, the alleged incident took place in a rubber forest in Kerala's Kollam region.

Soldier's friend said Kumar carried out the act to become famous.(ANI)

“He filed a complaint before the Kadakkal Police Station and during the course of investigation, it was revealed that his complaint was false. On the basis of that, he was arrested today and one of his friends was also arrested,” R Prathapan Nair, Addl SP, Kollam Rural, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

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According to senior police official, as reported by news agency PTI, the solider, Shine Kumar, was giving various reasons for making such a false statement and they have to be verified. The soldier's friend has also been arrested in the case and according to him, the act was carried out because Kumar wanted to become famous.

The police have recovered green paint, brush and tape that were allegedly used in the incident. The soldier's friend gave out the details of how the incident took place and said he was asked to write ‘PFI’ on Kumar's back and beat him up.

“I was drunk, so I initially wrote DFI, but he (Kumar) said to write PFI. So I made it PFI. Then he asked me to beat him up, but I said I couldn't because I was drunk,” he told the media. He was then asked to drag Kumar on the ground, which he couldn't do due to his intoxicated state. "So, he asked me to tape his mouth and hands and then to leave. So I did that," he claimed.

The soldier, who is posted in the Indian Army's Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) Corps in Rajasthan, claimed that he was beaten and PFI written on his back by six persons on Sunday night near his home while he was returning on his bike. The police had lodged complaints under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code. However, no marks of injury were found on the soldier's body.

PFI generally refers to the Popular Front of India, an organisation that was banned by the central government last year.