On the 5th of August, the National Investigating Agency (NIA), in coordination with Bihar police arrested two PFI members from Officers’ Colony at Chakiya in East Champaran district. The officials also recovered a country-made pistol during the joint operation. It is alleged that the arrested accused were indulging in anti-national activities.
The two PFI members have been identified as Shahid Raza and Faisal Ali alias Mohammad Kaif. Both of them are said to be residents of the Chakiya block in East Champaran.
Confirming the arrests, East Champaran’s superintendent of police (SP) Kantesh Kumar Mishra said, “The NIA has arrested two suspects with cooperation from the district police. A small weapon has been recovered from them. Further raid is underway.”
According to the Police officials, Shahid Raza and Kaif were arrested based on the information received from PFI’s master trainer Yakub alias Sultan Usman Khan, during NIA’s interrogation. Yakub is currently in jail. He was arrested on the 19th of July from the district’s Gawandra village.
During NIA interrogation, PFI trainer Yakub spilled several secrets which helped the investigating agency to carry out back-to-back raids and make arrests. During interrogation, Yakub revealed that there was a conspiracy going on to spread communal riots by carrying out an incident in Motihari. The group had clandestinely purchased weapons for this reason and one of those pistols was kept with Shahid Raza.
Subsequently, the NIA team reached Motihari on Friday night (4 August) and they brought Yakub along with them. Afterwards, NIA and Bihar Police carried out a joint operation and nabbed Shahid Raza and Mohd Kaif from the Officers’ colony.
After the arrests, NIA jointly interrogated all three of them for hours. Later, the NIA team brought Yakub and Shahid Raza along with them to Patna, however, they released Kaif after questioning him.
Phulwari Sharif terror module
A case was initially registered in 2022, at the Phulwari Sharif Police Station in Patna. Around 26 suspects were charged in the FIR after the Bihar Police busted PFI’s Phulwari Sharif terror module. After ten days, the case was transferred to NIA. Since then, NIA and ATS teams have conducted seven and two raids respectively in Motihari’s Chakia and Mehsi area to arrest PFI members.
On 28 July 2022, the NIA team raided Bablu’s house in Kuava village in the Chakia police station area. The second raid was done on 4 February 2023. Subsequently, NIA raided the area for the third and fourth time on 20th February and 17th March this year. These were followed by an ATS team raid on the 25th of April. During the sixth raid on the 19th of July, the PFI trainer and most wanted Yakub was arrested by the authorities.
In total, 15 PFI members have been arrested so far from this region in connection with the Phulwari Sharif terror module case.
It is important to note that on 27 September 2022, the Home Ministry imposed a ban on PFI and its eight affiliates. Despite the ban, experts aware of the matter have said that PFI has been actively working to disturb communal harmony and carry out anti-national activities, the two recent arrests in connection with hatching a conspiracy to stroke communal violence in Bihar is a testimony of their claims.