New Delhi, January 6
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a key accused in the Phulwarisharif PFI case of Patna (Bihar) from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on arrival from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
An NIA team arrested accused Mohammad Sajjad Alam of district East Champaran, Bihar, as soon as he landed at the airport. Mohammad Sajjad Alam, a trained cadre of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), was carrying an arrest warrant issued against him by the NIA Special Court, Patna, and also had a Look Out Circular issued against him.
As per NIA investigations, the accused was involved in channelising illegal funds from Dubai to PFI cadres in Bihar through a UAE, Karnataka and Kerala based syndicate. The funds were used for promoting the banned outfit’s criminal and unlawful activities.
The case was initially registered by the Phulwarisharif police in July 2022 and related to PFI cadres’ involvement in unlawful and anti-national activities. The cadres had conspired to create an atmosphere of terror and spread religious enmity between members of different religions and groups through activities prejudicial to the maintenance of peace and harmony in the country.
Aimed at disrupting public tranquility and causing disaffection against India, their activities involved the use of criminal force to advance the PFI ideology of establishing Islamic rule in India as envisaged in the organisation’s vision document, “India 2047 Towards Rule of Islam in India, Internal Document: Not for circulation”.
NIA, which took over the investigation days after the registration of the original case, had earlier arrested and chargesheeted 17 accused in the case.