KOLLAM: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the house of a suspected Popular Front of India (PFI) sympathiser here on Wednesday. The sleuths raided the house of one Nisarudeen at Chathamkulam in the district as part of its crackdown on PFI, which is a declared banned organisation.
On Wednesday morning, the NIA officials searched the house of Nisarudheen and recovered a diary, Aadhar card and other documents. Nisarudheen was not present in his home during the raid. He runs a furniture shop near to his house. The NIA officials said that Nisarudeen was not an active member of PFI and he is only a sympathiser instead.
The NIA officials have been in the district for the past few days based on reports that many active PFI workers are in Kollam. On Tuesday, NIA arrested a 38-year-old PFI activist, Mohammed Sadiq from Chavara. He was taken into custody by 3 am with the help of Chavara police. Earlier in the day, NIA sleuths reached the Chavara area and conducted searches.
Sources said that the accused is an auto driver and he has been keeping affiliations with the PFI. Police sources said that the agency had seized documents and a mobile phone from his home. The agency had conducted simultaneous raids at over 50 locations across the state targeting the residences of those who were leaders and active workers of PFI on December 29, 2022.
Last year, the Union government banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliate organisations for a period of five years in the country.
Besides the PFI, its affiliates- Rehab India Foundation, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization, National Women's Front, Junior Front, Campus Front of India, Empower India Foundation, and Rehab Foundation, Kerala were also declared as "unlawful associations" in the exercise of the powers under the UAPA.
The development came in the wake of massive pan-India raids against the PFI in which multiple people were arrested.