Centre to use Nizamabad case and citizenship agitation to ban Popular Front

KOCHI: The action against the Popular Front was triggered by the investigations initiated by central agencies following the violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens and the statement of the accused in the Telangana Police case.

The ED had found that the Popular Front had received crores for the Citizenship Act agitations. Following this, the central agency collected the bank account details of the leaders. ED had raided the house of Muvattupuzha native MK Ashraf, a member of the state committee of the Popular Front, last December. Many leaders and activists were under observation.

The arrest of four Popular Front workers in Nizamabad, Telangana on July 4 was decisive. NIA took over the case and arrested Abdul Khader, Sheikh Sahdullah, Imran and Mobin. The accused testified that they conducted terror training and riot planning. Based on the information received from them, NIA raided 39 centres in Telangana and Andhra and arrested 26 people. Information about activities in states, including Kerala, was received from them.

Kerala in hit list
Kerala is one of the main states on NIA's hit list. 19 of the 45 arrested on Thursday are Malayalis. In its report submitted to the court, the NIA stated that it has received clear evidence against them. The NIA also described that the Popular Front activists used to attract youth to terrorist organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, ISIS and Al-Qaeda.