Bengaluru: The KG Halli police in Karnataka's capital Bengaluru on Sunday submitted a charge sheet in the court against 15 workers of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), officials said. A 10,196-page charge sheet has been submitted to the court in connection with the FIR lodged in September last year against 19 people including PFI President Nasir Pasha.
Already, 15 of the 19 accused in the PFI case were arrested by the police. According to the officials, nine of the arrested persons have been booked and investigated under the UAPA Act, while the remaining six have been investigated by the police under IPC 153A. The charge sheet accused PFI of terror funding and training.
Many activities of PFI workers have been recorded in the charge sheet. It makes a special mention of the meeting held in the name of 'Freedom Charitable Trust' at Mitturu in Dakshina Kannada district, expansion of strategies, funding from various parts of the country etc. The charge sheet alleges that four to five crore rupees have been deposited in the organization's account for about 10 years.
It further alleged that the money thus received was used to provide scholarships to students of the community, books for children's education and funds for children's educational activities. The charge sheet said that the PFI workers also held a meeting in Benson Town, Bengaluru. The PFI workers were undergoing training for mental strength and physical defence at such meetings.
Police however said that no weapons were found during the police investigation. It can be recalled that the PFI was banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs in September 2022 on charges of raising funds from within India and abroad for violent and terrorist acts in various parts of India, including the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has frozen 37 bank accounts of the PFI as well as 40 bank accounts belonging to 19 individuals associated with the PFI since April last year as per officials.
