Raids on PFI: More than 170 held across several states in fresh crackdown

The Madhya Pradesh Police have detained 21 people from eight districts of the state over links with the Popular Front of India (PFI), state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Tuesday. Four people each were apprehended from Indore, Ujjain and Neemuch, three from Rajgarh, two each from Shajapur and Sheopur and one each from Bhopal and Guna, Mishra told reporters in Ujjain. Earlier on September 22, a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had led to the arrest of 106 leaders and activists of the radical Islamic outfit in near simultaneous raids in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country, officials.

The Pune police have detained six people linked to the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), an official said on Tuesday.

The prevention action under Criminal Procedure Code Section 151(3) has been taken in the backdrop of the recent crackdown on the PFI by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), senior police inspector Sardar Patil from Kondhwa police station said.

More than 90 people allegedly linked with the Popular Front of India (PFI) were detained or arrested in raids across six states on Tuesday, the crackdown coming five days after similar pan India searches against the group often accused of being linked to radical Islam. Conducted mostly by state police teams, the raids were spread across Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

On September 22, multi-agency teams spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 106 leaders and activists of the PFI in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country. The NIA is investigating 19 cases involving the PFI.

As police teams fanned out across their respective states on Tuesday, seemingly synchronised, the action was swift. While 25 people were arrested in Assam, four were arrested in Maharashtra and 30 detained in Delhi, officials said. The count of those detained in Madhya Pradesh was 21, followed by 10 in Gujarat. Besides, several people were also arrested in Karnataka.

Around 40 people linked to PFI have been detained from Aurangabad, Solapur, Amravati, Pune, Thane and Mumbai so far. This entire operation has been carried out by the state's local police with inputs from a Central Agency. All inquiries are underway: Maharashtra Police

Jamia Millia Islamia has asked its students and teachers not to assemble in and around the campus as police have imposed restrictions under section 144 of the CrPC in the entire Okhla area. 

In a notice issued on Monday, the chief proctor of the university said the SHO of the Jamia Nagar police station has informed that the restrictions have been imposed since September 19 as information was received that some people or groups may indulge in activities prejudicial to the maintenance of peace. The SHO further said that the restrictions would be in place in the entire Okhla (Jamia Nagar) area till November 17, the notice added.

As a preventive measure, Section 144 has been imposed in the entire Okhla's Jamia Nagar from September 19 to November 11 to restrain locals, particularly those from JMI university to gather/assemble in huge numbers in the area. 

Twenty-five Popular Front of India (PFI) activists were arrested from different districts of Assam in a fresh crackdown against the outfit on Tuesday, police said. The highest number of 10 PFI activists were held in Goalpara, five in Kamrup (Rural) and three in Dhubri, followed by arrests in Barpeta, Baksa, Darrang, Udalguri and Karimganj, they said.

Earlier, 11 people were arrested by the Assam Police from various parts of the state and Delhi, after a nation-wide clampdown against the organisation since September 22.

Joint raids by a Central agency and Delhi Police are underway at places related to PFI in different parts of the national capital including Nizamuddin, Shaheen Bagh area.

13 people have been detained from Aurangabad and 2 from Malegaon. All are active members of PFI, interrogation is going on: Maharashtra ATS

30 people detained in Delhi in connection with crackdown on Popular Front of India (PFI), news agency PTI reported quoting sources.

More than 75 PFI and SDPI workers, leaders taken into preventive custody, including the SDPI Yadgiri district president; police raids underway across the state. Cases booked under sections 108, 151 CrPC: Alok Kumar, ADGP Law & Order, Bengaluru

30 people detained in Delhi in connection with crackdown on Popular Front of India (PFI): Police sources

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed that documents seized during the nation-wide raids conducted at offices of PFI and its members contain highly incriminating materials targeting prominent leaders of a particular community.

The PFI in Kerala called for a statewide hartal on September 23. Masked men and miscreants went on the rampage in different parts of Kerala during the dawn-to-dusk hartal, damaging State-run buses and ambulances, injuring policemen and commoners, and vandalising shops and threatening the public. 

In near-simultaneous raids across the country, a multi-agency operation, spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on September 22 led to the arrest of 106 activists of the PFI in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

Police have arrested 25 Popular Front of India (PFI) activists in fresh crackdown in Assam, PTI reported quoting officials.