NIA files supplementary charge sheet against 4 in PFI Patna case: Official

The National Investigation Agency has filed a supplementary charge sheet against four arrested cadres of the Popular Front of India in a case related to the "unlawful and anti-national activities" of the proscribed outfit in Bihar, an official said on Friday.

The fresh charge sheet has been filed in the NIA Special Court, Patna, against Md Tanweer, Md Aabid, Md Belal and Md Irshad Alam, all residents of East Champaran district of Bihar, a spokesperson of the anti-terror federal agency said.

The official said the four accused were operating, along with other accused in planning of "violent criminal acts by arranging arms and ammunition and in propagating the PFIs ideology and agenda of violent extremism".

They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Arms Act on Thursday, the spokesperson said.

The official said a total of 15 accused, including the four chargesheeted, have been arrested so far for promoting the unlawful activities of the PFI and channelising illegal funds from abroad to PFI members/accused in this case.

According to investigations, the agency said Alam is a member of the criminal syndicate which was involved, along with other PFI cadres, in a criminal conspiracy related to attack and kill a youth belonging to a particular community, with the intention to spread terror and communal hatred.

"Tanweer and Abid already had the terror hardware for carrying out the hate crime and handed over the same to one of the arrested accused, Yaqub Khan, who is a PFI master trainer of weapons and tactics and had conducted multiple arms training sessions for furthering the banned outfit's violent and unlawful activities," the spokesperson said.

The case was initially registered on July 12 last year at Phulwarisharif Police Station in Patna against 26 people and was taken over and re-registered by the NIA on 10 days later.

On January 7, the NIA had filed a charge sheet against four people in the case, in which investigations are continuing.