As “proceeds of terrorism,” the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached one of the Popular Front of India’s (PFI) largest and oldest Arms and Physical Training Centres in accordance with the strict Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
It is the sixth PFI Arms Training Centre and the 18th entirety of real estate connected to the outlawed group that the NIA has attached in Kerala as part of its continuous efforts to combat terrorism.
The training centre named the Green Valley Academy is spread across a vast 10-hectare area in Kerala’a Manjeri and was looked after by the ‘Green Valley Foundation’ (GVF).
NIA ATTACHES ONE OF PFI’S LARGEST ARMS & PHYSICAL TRAINING CENTRES IN KERALA pic.twitter.com/EiQ74bx68L
— NIA India (@NIA_India) August 1, 2023
According to the reports, the area was initially used by the National Development Front’s cadres and subsequently by the PFI with which it merged.
NIA probe exposed that the PFI used the area for conducting arms training, physical training, and training sessions on the use and testing of explosives for its cadres. The PFI trained the cadres here who were associated with its ‘Service Wing’.
The investigation also cleared that many of the PFI service wing members hid at this location after committing henious crimes including murder. The cadres here were also trained with radical ideologies and were taught to promote the outfit’s communal agenda and politics.
The premise under the disguise of educational institutions housed several PFI frontal organizations. The NIA had already pursued legal action against five additional PFI training facilities in Kerala, namely Malabar House, Periyar Valley, Valluvanad House, Karunya Charitable Trust, and Trivandrum Education and Service Trust (TEST).
There are also an extra 12 offices attached, which are occasionally used by the leadership of the group to organise various criminal and terrorist acts, organise weapons and physical training, and spread ideology.
The PFI’s modus operandi, which entails running such training centres under the pretence of charity and educational trusts created by members or leaders of the organisation, has been revealed by the NIA’s investigations.
On March 17, 2023, the NIA filed a chargesheet in which it accused 59 people, including the PFI as a whole.
