Nizamabad PFI case: NIA files supplementary charge sheet against 5 accused

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary charge sheet before a special court in Hyderabad against five accused in the Nizamabad PFI case pertaining to criminal conspiracy hatched by PFI members to recruit and radicalise youth and organise training camps to put them through arms training for carrying out acts of terror and violence to make India an Islamic state by 2047.

“The accused are trained Popular Front of India (PFI) cadres who were found involved in provoking and radicalising impressionable Muslim youth, recruiting them into the PFI fold and imparting weapons training in specifically organised training camps. The aim was to carry out violent terrorist activities, in furtherance of the conspiracy to establish Islamic rule in the country by 2047,” the NIA said in its chargesheet.

The NIA chargesheeted Shaik Raheem alias Abdul Raheem, Shaik Vahaid Ali alias Abdul Wahed Ali, Jafrulla Khan Pathan, Shaik Riyaz Ahmed and Abdul Waris under the relevant sections of IPC and UA(P)A.

In December 2022, the NIA had filed its first chargesheet against 11 accused in the case after taking over the investigation from Telangana police in August 2022.

“These PFI cadres misinterpreted religious texts and proclaimed that violent form of jihad is necessary to end the sufferings of Muslims in India. Once recruited into the PFI fold, the Muslim youth were sent to the training camps organised by the accused PFI cadres where they were trained in the use of lethal weapons to kill their ‘targets’ by attacking their vital body parts such as throat, stomach and head,” the NIA alleged.

The PFI and its many affiliates were declared as an ‘unlawful association’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs in September 2022 after its involvement in violent activities came to light during investigations carried out by various state police units and national agencies.