9 linked to Popular Front of India taken into custody in Assam

GUWAHATI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Assam Police in joint raids have taken nine members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) into custody from Guwahati and other parts of the state.
State president Aminul Hoque and secretary Rabiul Hussain were among those taken into custody.
A top police source said that Assam Police have been keeping a hawk-eye on the activities of the PFI over their link with members of al-Qaida’s Bangladesh-based Ansarullah Bangla Team.
At least 40 ABT members have been arrested since March. One of the arrested ABT members is a former PFI man.
The PFI, which has 56 registered members in the state, has trying to gain a foothold in the state.
The organisation has as many as 16 cases registered against it in the state and two against its students’ wing, Campus Front of India (CFI) since 2017.
Most of the cases were registered under the charges of 'criminal conspiracy', 'provocation with intent to cause riot', and 'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion'.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had urged the Centre to ban the PFI after police found their links to the violence in Guwahati during the anti-CAA protests in December 2019.
The state government has also blamed the PFI for the recent incidents of arson in a police station and violence during an eviction of squatters from government land.