NIA seals PFI offices in Kota & Jaipur; freezes 10 bank a/cs

JAIPUR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday attached the offices of the now banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in Jaipur and Kota that were being allegedly used for organising terror training camps.
The agency said it has attached the banned outfit’s office on the Moti Dungari Road in Jaipur and near Lalji Ghati in Ladpura area of Kota under the provisions of unlawful activities (prevention) act as the ‘proceeds of terrorism’.
The NIA claimed the PFI offices were used by accused, and the outfit’s cadres for organising “terror training camps” where boys were being radicalized and trained in the use of weapons, such as knife and swords, to attack, assault, and murder by targeting vulnerable points of the body, including head and neck.
The agency also claimed to have frozen 10 bank accounts of PFI and its members. In September 2022, the NIA had registered a case to probe the PFI and its activties in Rajasthan. The agency on March 13 filed a chargesheet against two arrested members of the outfit — Mohammad Ashif, a resident of Kota, and Sadiq Sarraf of Baran, accusing them of radicalising gullible youths by brain-washing them and also for collecting funds for procurement of weapons,and organising training camps for PFI cadres.
The agency has arrested three suspects in the case so far. The agency claimed to have discovered that the banned organisation has also been conducting training of gullible youth in handling of weapons.