E-Paper
NIA charges arms trainer of PFI cadre
Ibrahim designed the syllabus for the advanced physical and arms training courses and travelled across the country to coordinate and supervise such camps.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday charged Ibrahim Puthanathani, the national coordinator of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) allegedly responsible for arms training, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The probe has revealed that PFI cadres were being systematically trained in the use of weapons in the guise of Physical Education(PE) classes in different parts of India.
Ibrahim Puthanathani allegedly conducted arms training camps across various states on behalf of the banned outfit and had also designed the syllabus for the advanced physical and arms training courses. Ibrahim travelled across the country to coordinate and supervise such arms training camps, according to officials familiar with the details of the investigation. He has been charged under sections 120B, 121A, 122, 153A of IPC, and sections 13, 18, 18A, and 18B of the UAPA.
The NIA has also invoked additional charges under sections 38 and 39 of the UAPA against the PFI, as an organization.
This follows the chargesheet filed by NIA on March 18 against the National Executive Council (NEC) members and senior cadres of the PFI. The central probe agency had charged 19 persons linked to PFI, including 12 NEC members, founding members and senior leaders, in its fifth chargesheet in the case.
The NIA exposed its sinister motive to establish Caliphate in India by 2047 through four stages, including weapons training to cadres and infiltrating police and judiciary. The investigation revealed that it espoused an Islamic Caliphate by working under the pretext of national integration, communal harmony, and welfare of minorities and weaker sections.
NEC, the top decision-making body in the organizational hierarchy of PFI, had devised a well-planned strategy to wage a large-scale war against the Indian government by recruiting and providing weapons training to radicalised Muslim men who pledged their allegiance to the outfit by administration of Oath of secrecy and loyalty. These men were trained to use deadly weapons in various training camps to raise an army of radicalised and fundamentalist militia.
