Bihar terror module: Was PM Modi's Patna visit on target? Retired Jharkhand cop among three arrested

Bihar terror module: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bihar on July 12 was on target of terrorists. Bihar Police have busted a "potential terror module indulging in anti-India activities" by arresting three people, including a retired Jharkhand police officer, with alleged links to extremist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). The accused were arrested in the Phulwari Sharif area of Patna late on Wednesday. "The arrested persons have been identified as Mohammad Jallauddin, a retired Jharkhand police officer, and Athar Parvez. They have links with PFI. Jallauddin was earlier associated with the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)," Phulwari Sharif Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manish Kumar said.

"We keep an eye on such institutions on routine work. Because the Prime Minister was coming, we were alert and in the meantime we came to know about these people's office and we started investigating it closely. FIR has been lodged against a total of 26 people of which 3 people have been arrested," Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP)(Bihar), Manish Kumar said.

PM Modi was on a visit to Bihar to attend a function organised on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of the Bihar Assembly as part of which he unveiled a commemorative pillar, planted a sapling of 'Kalpataru' tree and laid foundation stones of a guest house and a library. 

During the investigation, Bihar Police found that Parvez was in constant touch with members of several overseas organisations and was raising foreign funds to carry out anti-India activities. An FIR has been registered against 26 people. The training of suspected terrorists had also started in Phulwari Sharif 15 days before PM Modi's visit. As soon as the information was received, the police raided and arrested two people. 

"They were teaching locals how to use swords and knives and also instigating them for communal violence. An investigation has revealed that people from other states were visiting them in Patna. Those visitors used to change their names while staying in hotels in the Bihar capital to conceal their identities," he said. Several objectionable documents pertaining to Islamic extremism have been seized from their possession, the ASP said. Parvez's younger brother had been jailed in 2001-02 in connection with several bomb blast cases in Bihar after SIMI was banned, Kumar said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also been engaged by the police for further probe pertaining to their money trail," he added.

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'Make India an Islamic nation by 2047

An excerpt from an eight-page-long document recovered from the accused titled 'India vision 2047' talks about "subjugating coward majority community and bringing back the glory". Police said their internal document is very objectionable and talks of the "rule of Islam in India". Kumar said an excerpt from an eight-page long document they shared amongst themselves titled 'India vision 2047' says, "PFI confident that even if 10 per cent of total Muslim population rally behind it, PFI would subjugate coward majority community and bring back the glory," he added. He said the document mentions that in case of a full-fledged showdown with the state, "apart from relying on cadres we would need help from friendly Islamic countries." "In the last few years PFI has developed friendly relations with Turkey, a flag-bearer of Islam," the police official quoted from the document. 

The Kerala High Court observed in May this year that PFI and its political wing SDPI are extremist organisations indulging in serious acts of violence. It, however, said that these organisations are not banned. The bench of Justice K Haripal made the observation while dismissing the plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder of RSS worker S Sanjith "No doubt, SDPI and PFI are extremist organisations indulging in serious acts of violence. All the same, those are not banned organisations," the court had said. 

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