NIA Raids Seven Rajasthan Locations In PFI Conspiracy Case hl

Advocate Ansar Indori, whose Kota residence was also searched denied any associations with PFI and alleged that the NIA raids were conducted to harass him for challenging a case in the court.

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 18 February 2023 1:55 pm

NIA raids PFI over terror funding

An official on Saturday said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched seven Rajasthan locations in relation to cases pertaining to unlawful activities by the Popular Front of India (PFI), a banned outfit , an official said.

The searches were conducted as a follow up to a case registered suo motu by the NIA on September 19 last year after receiving information from reliable sources that PFI members Sadiq Sarraf of Baran and Mohammed Asif of Kota were indulging in "unlawful activities" along with other office-bearers and cadres.

The raids were conducted at three places in Kota and one each in Madhopur, Bhilwara, Bundi and Jaipur districts on residential and commercial premises of suspects, a federal anti-terror agency spokesperson told the media. Digital devices, an airgun, sharp weapons and incriminating documents were seized at the time of the raids, tthe official confirmed. Further investigations are under progress in the case.

Meanwhile, an NIA team reached Aman Colony in the Vigyan Nagar area of Kota, where the agency raided the house of advocate Ansar Indori and recovered some documents, according to sources. After the raid, Indori said that the NIA team questioned him about a court case 'RC 41/2022/NIA/DLI', which was challenged in the Rajasthan High Court. Indori was also a legal counselor in the case and alleged that the NIA raids were conducted to harass him for challenging the case in court.

"The team reached my house at around 15 past five in the morning on Saturday and took me to the police station where they questioned me till around 7.40 am. They seized some reports on human rights and some books authored by noted human rights activists from my house," the lawyer told reporters in Kota. He however denied any links with the banned organization, PFI.

Sources say, another NIA team reached Mahaveer Colony in Bundi city at around 4 am on Saturday and carried out a search operation at PFI's Bundi district president Anis Ansari's house. However, Ansari was not found in the house.

According to Ansari's family members, he was out of station for a wedding function. The NIA team recovered mobile phones and some documents from the house, they said. In 2018, Ansari contested state assembly elections from the Social Democratic Party of India.