NIA files charge sheet in Hyderabad court against 11 PFI men for recruiting youth and holding terror camps

Investigations revealed that the accused persons radicalised gullible Muslim youth and recruited them into the PFI through incendiary speeches against the government of India, other organisations and individuals.

Once recruited, the youth were sent to training camps that the PFI organised under the cover of conducting yoga classes and physical education beginners’ course.

The recruits were imparted training in using weapons such as knives, sickles and iron rods to kill a person by attacking vulnerable body parts and for the commission of terrorist acts.

The accused were charge-sheeted under sections 120B, 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sections 17, 18, 18A and 18B of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Also read: NIA raids houses of 56 PFI leaders in Kerala

The accused

Abdul Khader, Abdul Ahad, Shaik Shadullah, Syed Yahiya Sameer, Shaik Imran alias Imran Qureshi and Mohd Abdul Mubeen, all residents of Nizamabad district, and Abdul Saleem and Mohammad Osman alias Usman, both from Jagtial district, Mohammad Irfan of Karimnagar, Feroz Khan of Adilabad, and Shaik Iliyas Ahmed of Khaja Nagar in Buchi Reddy Palem Mandal in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, were named in the charge sheet.

The NIA cracked the whip on PFI cadres in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after the Nizamabad police arrested Abdul Khader and his associates from Auto Nagar in the district in August 2022 for allegedly conspiring to wage war against the Central government.

Based on the information shared by the Nizamabad district police and the First-Information Report (FIR), the NIA swung into action and re-registered the case on 26 August 2022.

On 28 September 2022, the Union government banned PFI and eight affiliate organisations for five years for allegedly undertaking “unlawful activities which are prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country”.