BENGALURU: The PFI, before it was banned by the Centre on September 28, 2022, under the UAPA, reportedly had the largest and fastest growing cadre in Karnataka, in comparison with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, sources said. The banned outfit was building its ‘Service Teams’ or killer squads in each district, with each team comprising 20-30 hardened members, who were trained to kill prominent members of the other community.
“Members of service teams were trained in weapons handling, attack, surveillance, identifying important members of the other community, killings of ‘perceived enemies’ and targets, who were largely from the RSS. They were assured of early bail by PFI leaders, following their arrest. The service team members were trained in Puttur,” added sources.
Last year, NIA had seized a community hall in Puttur, where arms and weapons training was being imparted to select members of the now-banned outfit.
Not everyone can become a member of PFI’s service team. “They were identified by local leaders and brought into the fold and later trained. Their identity was not disclosed to anyone, not even other PFI members. Once trained, these members were tasked to perform multiple duties; from working as escorts/drivers of the top PFI leadership, providing protection to the outer periphery of the organisation’s rallies, to identifying targets and executing murders at the behest of top leaders,” added sources.
To become a member of the service team, one had to be an ideologue to push for PFI’s agenda of establishing Islamic rule in India by 2047. They had to be able-bodied and fit to handle machetes, knives and cleavers; were in the 20-35 age group, and most were semi-literate. PFI killings were identified by the cut, which was quick, precise and lethal, like a butcher’s cut.
“The PFI had studied the follies of the banned terrorist outfit -- Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) -- and taken all steps to prevent the organisation from being banned. The Nettaru case proved a catalyst for their ban,” added sources.
“The PFI identified their targets based on their popularity and ease of operation. Along with Praveen Nettaru, they had identified three other targets to avenge the murder of Kalanja Masood. They found Nettaru an easy target because of the location of his shop in Bellare, where he was killed in full public view with lethal weapons,” the NIA chargesheet mentioned.
The impact of the murder was huge. Following Nettaru’s murder, BJP Yuva Morcha office-bearers from across the state tendered their resignations en masse. A group of ABVP activists held a protest at Home Minister Araga Jnanendra’s residence in Bengaluru, demanding a ban on the PFI and its affiliates, and some BJP leaders attacked the government and party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel for their failure to protect party workers.
The arrest of Thufail MH, the district head of PFI’s ‘Service Team’ and former PFI district secretary, Kodagu, from his house in Amruthahalli in Bengaluru on March 4 by NIA, is a major breakthrough in the Nettaru case. The NIA is hot on the trail of two key absconders -- Mustafa Paichar and Kodaje Mohammed Sherif -- in the sensational murder case.
“They are leaders of the now defunct service teams and had identified key targets,” said sources. Besides Paichar and Sherif Masud KA, Abubakkar Siddik and Ummar Farook MR are also absconding. They have been charge-sheeted by the NIA.