Banned PFI carried hit lists including former Kerala district judge: NIA

Hindustan Times

6 hours ago

Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing criminal cases involving cadres of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), has claimed that the Islamist outfit carried hit lists of hundreds of people it aimed to target, including a former district judge, in Kerala. The NIA prosecutor told the special court in Kochi that the PFI had three wings -- 'Reporters Wing', 'Physical and Arms Training Wing' and 'Service Wing/Hit teams'. (File Photo)
The national agency's disclosure was revealed in an order of a special NIA court in Kochi on June 11, rejecting the petitions for bail by two accused in the case of the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Srinivasan in April 2022. The murder, allegedly carried out by PFI workers, was one of the crimes that led to the nationwide ban by the Union government on the extremist outfit in 2022.
The NIA prosecutor told the special court in Kochi that the PFI had three wings -- 'Reporters Wing', 'Physical and Arms Training Wing' and 'Service Wing/Hit teams'. The 'India 2047' agenda of the PFI was to eliminate those that go against the interests of the outfit, he said.
'Therefore, PFI through their secret 'Reporters wing' collected and maintained the personal details of the people of other community, including their position, name, age, photo etc. The same is established through the seizure of various hit lists prepared by PFI cadres through their secret wing called 'Reporters wing',' the order said.
The 'Reporters wing', it said, collected personal and private information of prominent personalities in society besides leaders of other communities like Hindus including their day-to-day activities.
'The data is compiled at the PFI district level and communicated to their state hierarchy. The details are regularly updated and utilised to 'target' the individuals as and when required by the terrorist gang. The PFI had trained its cadres for collection of such data and had stored them besides providing the same to their assault teams in 'Service wing' as when decided by their leadership,' the order said.
The NIA told the court that documents containing the hit list of about 240 persons were seized from Sirajudheen, a member of the 'Reporters wing' of PFI and accused number 51 in the Srinivasan murder case.
The agency stated that the name of a former district judge in Kerala was on a hit list of five targeted persons seized from Abdul Wahab, another accused in the murder case.
The NIA told the court that it has seized documents containing hit lists of 232 persons from Muhammed Sadik, an accused-turned-approver in the case, and another hit list of 500 persons from an absconding accused named Ayoob TA.
The agency stated that in murder cases involving PFI cadres, including that of RSS leader Srinivasan in Palakkad, the accused did not have any personal enmity with the deceased. 'The victims have been selected solely because of their leadership/membership to a particular community and were killed to create terror in society,' it said.