Assam Police on September 27, 2022, arrested twenty-five Muslims of the Islamist organization Popular Front of India (PFI). The arrested PFI members include the northeast regional secretary of PFI Aminul Hoque, the organization’s Assam unit president Abu Sama Ahmed, Assam state unit general secretary Robiul Hussain, district unit presidents of PFI’s Nagaon and Barpeta units Rafiqul Islam, and Mufti Rahmatullah, respectively. Minarul Sheikh, the West Bengal unit president of PFI is also been arrested.
Hiren Nath, Additional DGP (Special Branch) informed:
The fresh arrests have been made in Kamrup Rural (5), Goalpara (10), Karimganj (1), Darrang (1), Dhubri (3), Barpeta (2), Udalguri (1), and Baksa (2) districts.
Earlier on September 22, over 100 leaders of the PFI were arrested across India in the raid organized by the joint team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and state police forces across 10 states. As per reports, the raids were conducted at the premises of the PFI leaders who are “involved in terror funding, organizing training camps, and ‘radicalizing’ people to join proscribed organizations”. The raids were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and many other states.
11 members of the PFI were detained in Assam during the nationwide raid on September 22. The special branch of Assam police registered a case and charged the arrested PFI members under sections 120-B, 124-A, 153-A, and 353 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between different groups, and assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty. As per the statement issued by Assam police:
These leaders were arrested as there is reliable information that they were making all-out efforts to foment communal strife throughout the state.
