E-Paper
Coded diary revealed PFI’s terror acts, funding: NIA charge sheet
A charge sheet filed by NIA in its larger probe into the activities of the PFI mentions the “recovery of a diary containing coded text in Malayalam on rioting, bomb blasts etc”.
A charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its larger probe into the activities of the Popular Front of India (PFI) mentions the “recovery of a diary containing coded text in Malayalam on rioting, bomb blasts etc” and the “continuous transfer of funds to various cadres from six PFI bank accounts” -- two factors that became the catalyst for banning the outfit in September 2022.
The trigger, according to the charge sheet was the arrest of Anshad Badruddin, who worked as a physical trainer for PFI cadres, by the Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in Lucknow on March 16, 2021 . It emerged that he and another PFI worker Firoz Khan were planning to detonate some bombs on the occasion of Basant Panchmi.
Badruddin was carrying a highly explosive chemical compound, PETN (Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate) , a detonator and a pistol but what really caused the police team to sit up and take notice was a diary. The writing was in Malayalam, and the content was explosive.
“....the Malayalam text in the diary seized from Anshad contained coded instructions or guidelines on rioting, arson, strategy for attacks during riots, working style of PFI, route to be followed by PFI’s local area leaders, reconnaissance of local topography, where and how to cause bomb blasts etc,” added the NIA charge sheet filed on Saturday against 19 senior leaders including national executive council (NEC) members of PFI.
According to the charge sheet, Badruddin, active with PFI since 2010, revealed during interrogation that the outfit had given him the responsibility of recruiting and weapons training -- tasks that took him to various states.
NIA’s charge sheet, a copy of which has been reviewed by HT, said there were transfers totaling ₹3.5 lakh in Anshad’s two accounts from PFI’s four accounts between January 2018 and January 2021. These funds were meant for weapons training, terrorist camps organized by PFI for its cadres across the country, and collection of arms and ammunition and explosive substances for causing bomb blasts and carrying out targeted killings. One of the PFI accounts also transferred 11,000 to Masud Ahmed , one of the alleged PFI workers arrested after the Hathras murder .
Funds were also transferred to the account of Mohammed Abdul Ahad, general secretary of PFI in Telangana. Ahad, according to NIA charge sheet, was not only recruiting impressionable Muslim youth into PFI by instigating them against the Indian government and leaders of organizations who do not subscribe to the ideology of the PFI to establish caliphate in the country, but was also asking them to indulge in violent jihad.
“Ahad used to send them (new recruits) to the terrorist camps organized by PFI at different places where, under the garb of physical fitness or yoga classes, PFI cadres were imparted arms and weapons training to eliminate leaders/members of particular organizations ...,” the charge sheet said.
The agency said Ahad was in touch with PFI’s NEC members Anis Ahmed and Afsar Pasha and receiving funds on monthly basis. He received ₹3.1 lakh from PFI between August 2017 and March 2021.
In similar fashion, Mohammad Irfan from Telangana received ₹1.9 lakh in his account from PFI accounts between October 2018 and November 2020 and Abdul Khader Puttar, an accused in the KG Halli police station violence in Bengaluru in 2022, received ₹1.66 lakh in his accounts between July 2017 and March 2021.
Overall, six PFI accounts were used to transfer funds to the five members listed in the NIA charge sheet.
“The diary which revealed actual plans of PFI for India, regular transfer (of money) to different states to fund violent activities and series of targeted killings, triggered the action, which led to arrest of over 108 PFI members in a countrywide crackdown in September 2022,” said a senior NIA officer, who didn’t want to be named.
The NIA charge sheet further talks about PFI’s large scale activities to create social unrest in the country and its links with Islamic State (IS) before the ban.
“PFI doesn’t leave any opportunity to unite the public against the policies of the government by misrepresenting facts. For instance, in the case of CAA/NRC (citizenship amendment act/national register of citizens), PFI successfully managed to misguide the minority community with regard to the contents of the proposed CAA/NRC. It was instrumental in organizing and funding the protests against CAA/NRC,” the charge sheet said.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) finally banned the radical outfit on September 28, 2022.
PFI was formed in November 2006 by merging three Muslim organizations with extremist ideologies , National Democratic Front (with main presence in Kerala), Manitha Neethi Pasarai (meaning Human Justice Forum and having main presence in Tamil Nadu) and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (with main presence in Karnataka).
