The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken action against the Popular Front of India (PFI) by attaching the Green Valley Academy in Manjeri, Malappuram district, Kerala. The Green Valley Academy, managed by the Green Valley Foundation, had allegedly served as a training centre for PFI members. As per the NIA, the Green Valley in Kerala was one of the PFI’s oldest and largest centres for arms training. Its establishment dates back to 1994, during the time when it was associated with the National Development Front, a former organisation of the PFI.
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 NIA, the Green Valley Academy, managed by Green Valley Foundation, initially served as a facility for arms and physical training for cadres of the National Development Front (NDF) and later for members of the Popular Front of India (PFI). The sprawling area covers 10 hectares and ewas allegedly utilised by PFI members as a hideout following their involvement in various criminal activities, including murder.
The NIA further asserted that the Green Valley operated under the pretext of being an educational institution. Apart from the Green Valley Academy, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also attached several other PFI training centres, including Malabar House, Periyar Valley, Valluvanad House, Karunya Charitable Trust, and Trivandrum Education and Service Trust. The NIA is actively investigating additional institutions and buildings affiliated with the PFI that are suspected of being used for arms training and propagating ideological activities
This is the 6th Arms Training Centre of the PFI and the 18th property of the outfit to be attached by the NIA in Kerala under the UA(P) Act. On 17 March 2023, the NIA filed a chargesheet against 59 accused, including the PFI as an organisation, in the case RC-02/2022/NIA/KOC.
The NIA, in its statement said that, PFI had been employing the property to provide arms training, physical training, and instruction on the use and testing of explosives to its cadres, specifically those belonging to their ‘Service Wing’. The facility was used as a hideout for ‘PFI Service Wing’ members following their involvement in criminal activities, including murders. The NIA also stated that the centre was used to impart radical and divisive ideological training, promoting the PFI’s communal agenda and policies, to its trained operatives, cadres, and members. Offices of the PFI and its affiliated organisations were said to be operating from this location, disguised as educational institutions.
Twelve more PFI offices, intermittently utilised by the organisation’s leadership, have also been attached by authorities. These offices were used for organising arms and physical training, propagating ideologies, and providing training for various criminal activities, including murders and acts of terrorism.
According to NIA investigations, the PFI has been operating numerous training centres under the guise of charitable and educational trusts established by the organisation’s members or leaders. The investigations have also uncovered that PFI rented several buildings to conduct their training camps and engage in activities related to terrorism and violence.
Speaking to ANI, the MoS External Affairs V Muraleedharan said that “The closing down of the Green Valley Foundation by the NIA in Kerala establishes the fact that in Kerala, the Islamic terrorist organisations are getting a covert support from the ruling dispensations of Kerala, be it CPM or the Congress. The shocking fact is that NIA has said that this centre has large storage of arms and giving training in arms but in spite of that this centre has been functioning there for more than a decade.”
#WATCH | "The closing down of the Green Valley Foundation by the NIA in Kerala establishes the fact that in Kerala the Islamic terrorist organisations are getting covered support from the ruling dispensations of Kerala be it CPI(M) or the Congress…The shocking fact is that NIA… pic.twitter.com/jxXTLd50Jg
— ANI (@ANI) August 1, 2023
He also said that he had led an agitation as the President of Kerala BJP almost a decade ago against this centre but the state governments did not take any action then.
(With inputs from News9)
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