National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Bihar's Phulwari Sharif case, having links with extremist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and begun its probe.
The NIA registered the case last night under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act following the July 22 order issued by the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation division of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directing the agency to take over the investigation from Bihar Police, an official said.
The PFI "terror module" case was recently unearthed by Bihar Police with the arrest of three people for their alleged links with the group and their plans to indulge in "anti-India" activities.
The NIA on Wednesday carried out searches in Jamia Maria Niswa Madrasa located in Bihar's Purvi Champaran district and arrested a teacher identified as Asghar Ali.
Mohammad Jalaluddin, a retired Jharkhand Police officer, and Athar Parvez were arrested on July 13 from the Phulwari Sharif area of Bihar's capital Patna while Nuruddin Jangi was arrested three days later from Lucknow by Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad on the request of Bihar Police.
Bihar Police have so far arrested five persons in the Phulwari Sharif case, which has named 26 people.
In the raids carried out by the Bihar Police in Phulwari Sharif, many objectionable documents were recovered. One such document was titled 'Vision 2047 India' had documented ways to launch an armed attack on the Indian State by Indian Muslims aided by Islamic nations like Turkey. Various pamphlets of PFI were also recovered by the police.
These terrorists were being trained in Phulwari Sharif 15 days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Patna. They held meetings on July 6-7 and used communally inciting speeches.
Earlier, similar arrests were made in Telangana's Nizamabad where PFI had organised a similar radicalization camp to recruit and train Muslims in arms.
The case has drawn wide attention in Bihar.
The Enforcement Directorate has also launched a money laundering probe against PFI in the case.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
