Mumbai : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has raided the premises of Popular Front of India (PFI) in several districts of Maharashtra and detained about 25 activists associated with the organisation on charges of suspicious activities. The raids were carried out in the early hours of Tuesday in Aurangabad, Thane, Solapur, Nanded, Solapur, Jalna and Parbhani districts. The NIA kept its action very confidential and till now the raids are going on.
The NIA conducted simultaneous raids in Mumbra, Bhiwandi and Kalyan in Thane district in the early hours of today. The NIA team has detained Dawood Siraj Ahmed Sheikh and Abdul Matin Shekhani from Mumbra, Fadeen Paikar from Kalyan, Ashiq Ansari from Bhiwandi. All of them are being investigated for their relationship with PFI and their involvement in suspicious activities.
Similarly, the NIA has detained two people, including a PFI worker, from Solapur on charges of indulging in suspicious activities.
While 14 suspected activists have been detained from Aurangabad city. In Nanded, NIA and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) have detained a fugitive suspect accused and PFI activist Mohammad Abed Ali Mehboob Ali from Deglur Naka area. NIA has already arrested four people of PFI from here.
NIA and ATS teams are intensively probing the anti-national activities of PFI activists. Sources said that today the investigating agencies have got important clues, but the official details of this have not been given to the media.