NIA files charge sheet in Nizamabad PFI case, total accused now is 17

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against Nossam Mohamad Yunus, an accused in the Nizamabad Popular Front of India (PFI) case, pertaining to the banned outfit’s criminal conspiracy to recruit, radicalise people to carry out acts of terror and violence.

An NIA official here said that the agency with the supplementary charge sheet filed today (Thursday) against Yunus in the NIA Special Court, Hyderabad, the total number of accused charged by the agency in the case now stands at 17.

The official said that Yunus has been chargesheeted under relevant sections of IPC and the UA (P) Act.

The official said that its probe revealed that Yunus is a trained PFI cadre who was engaged in motivating and radicalising impressionable Muslim youth with the aim to carry out violent terrorist activities, in furtherance of the PFI conspiracy to establish an Islamic Rule in India by 2047.

"NIA has found that the accused was involved in recruiting vulnerable youth and imparting weapons training to them in PFI Weapons Training Camps, specifically organised for that purpose in a clandestine manner," the official said.

The official further said that Yunus was training them in the use of lethal weapons to kill their ‘targets’ by attacking their vital body parts, such as throat, stomach, head etc. Further, he was also found actively promoting enmity between different religious groups in the country.

The case was initially registered by Nizamabad 6 Town police station in Telangana, in July 2022.

NIA took over the investigations from the Telangana Police in August 2022, and filed its first charge sheet against 11 accused in December 2022 and second charge sheet against five accused in March 2023.

The NIA has been probing the anti-India activities of PFI and its many affiliates, which were declared as an ‘unlawful association’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in September 2022.

The ban on the PFI and its associates came after investigations conducted by various state police units and national agencies exposed their role and involvement in violent activities in many parts of the country.