The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday “raided” the houses of five proclaimed offenders and suspects at 21 locations in Tamil Nadu in connection with the murder of PMK functionary Ramalingam in Thanjavur in February 2019.
Among the locations searched was the house of ‘Nellai’ Mubarak, State president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The others under the scanner included the absconding accused, Mohammed Ali Jinna, Abdul Majith, Bhurkhanudeen, Shahul Hameed and Nafeel Hassan, all members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).
The NIA also announced a reward of ₹5 lakh each to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of any of the five absconders. “Several digital devices and documents” were seized during the searches in Thanjavur, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Villupuram, Tiruchi, Pudukkottai, Coimbatore and Mayiladuthurai.
The accused in what has been dubbed by the NIA as the “PFI conspiracy case” have been charged with conspiring and killing Ramalingam in an extremely violent “jihadi manner” as he objected to the “forcible conversion” of underprivileged persons by a Dawah team/proselytisation team dispatched from Arivagam, Theni (now attached as the proceeds of terrorism under Section 25 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967).
The agency said in a release that according to investigations, the violence was instigated to instil fear in PFI opponents and drive a wedge between the communities by inciting communal hatred and violence. The prosecution of the others arrested in the case is under way before the NIA Special Court in Chennai.
Mr. Mubarak told reporters that the NIA team seized his mobile phone. He alleged that the Union government was threatening the minority communities under one pretext or the other. The SDPI would face the case legally, he said, claiming that the action was similar to the one taken by the Enforcement Directorate against the political opponents of the ruling party at the Centre.
In Tiruchi, the house of Afsal, formerly with the PFI, was searched. In Mayiladuthurai district, the house of Nishar Ahmed on Pattakkal Street at Therizhandhur in Kuthalam taluk was searched. In Thanjavur, the agency searched the house of Bakruddin at Natarajapuram South in the medical college police station limits. Searches were conducted at the houses of Abdul Majid in Kumbakonam, Mohammed Farook at Rajagiri and Mohammed Ali Jinnah at Thirubuvanam.
In Tiruppur, the premises of B. Mubarak Basha, of the PFI, at G.K. Garden in Velampalayam was searched. The NIA sleuths also landed at the house of M.Y. Abbas on H.M.P.R. Street at Kottaimedu in Coimbatore.
Sources said Abbas was questioned to ascertain if he had any contact with the five absconding persons. Abbas was in charge of the Kurichi and Aathupalam areas of the PFI and a close associate of A.S. Ismail, national executive committee member of the PFI, who was arrested by the NIA last year. The NIA sleuths also summoned and questioned him at their office.
In Tirunelveli, a four-member NIA team searched Mr. Mubarak’s house at Melapalayam from 5.50 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. A large number of SDPI workers assembled in front of Mr. Mubarak’s house and raised slogans demanding “justice for the minority communities”. A large number of policemen were deployed in the area. Searches were also conducted at the house of Mohammed Rafiq, a former functionary of the PFI, at Usilankulam.
Searches condemned
Manithaneya Makkal Katchi president M.H. Jawahirullah condemned the searches at Mr. Mubarak’s house. He alleged that the move was aimed at diverting attention from the Manipur crisis.
