The agency conducted raids across at least eight locations in the state at the houses of people associated with the banned Islamic outfit.
The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by the leaders and cadres of the proscribed outfit PFI. (Commons)
After extensive searches in the Theni, Dindigul, Madurai and Chennai districts of Tamil Nadu, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday, 9 May, arrested five people.
This took the total number of arrests in the Tamil Nadu Popular Front of India (PFI) criminal conspiracy case to 15.
According to a statement from the NIA, the search operations were conducted at the properties of the accused, mostly houses and farmhouses.
Madurai residents and advocates Mohamed Yusuf (35) and M Mohamed Abbas (45), Chennai resident Abdul Razzak (47), Kyzer A (45) from Palani in the Dindigul district, and Sathik Ali (39) from the Theni district were arrested.
A host of incriminating materials — including sharp weapons, digital devices and documents — were seized during the searches.
The case, pertaining to the unlawful and anti-national activities of the banned PFI, was registered by the NIA on 19 September, 2022.
The NIA filed a chargesheet against 10 accused persons — who were arrested earlier — on 17 March.
Investigations revealed that the accused conspired and planned to eliminate their “perceived enemies”, who were not aligned with the PFI’s ideologies and were opposed to its plans to establish an Islamic State in India by 2047, the NIA said.
In pursuance of the conspiracy, according to NIA, the accused radicalised a large number of PFI cadres — especially youngsters — handpicked by the outfit’s leadership.
They also allegedly trained them in the use of different kinds of weapons to assault, maim and kill their adversaries.
Further investigations are in progress in the case, the NIA said.
In Chennai, raids are underway at former PFI members’ houses at Otteri, Thiruvotriyur, and Mannadi. In Madurai, NIA officials conducted raids at Nelpettai.
According to the state police, a team of five NIA officials raided the house of one Mohammad Qaiser at Nethaji Nagar in Palani Taluk in the Dindigul district.
Qaiser is said to be the Madurai regional president of the PFI and owned a bakery in the locality. In January 2023, the NIA picked Qaiser for interrogation and later released him.
Sadiq Ali, the Theni district secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), was also detained by the NIA after a search of his house.
Since the ban on PFI, nearly a dozen of its cadres in Tamil Nadu have been arrested by the NIA.
The case relates to conspiracy and unlawful activities, such as creating enmity among different groups on grounds of religion and carrying out activities prejudicial to communal harmony to disrupt public peace and tranquillity, and cause disaffection against India, the officials said.
They said that the outfit has been accused of organising training with deadly weapons and using these trained cadres to attack targets chosen by leaders of the PFI at the district and state levels.
(With PTI inputs)
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