PFI had collected Rs 55 lakh in name of helping Khargone riot-hit people post-Ram Navami violence: Police

The Popular Front of India (PFI) had tried to instigate a particular community following the violence during a Ram Navami procession in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone earlier this year, and collected around Rs 55 lakh in the name of helping the riot-affected people, a senior police official said.

The central government on Wednesday banned the PFI and several of its associates for five years under a stringent anti-terror law, accusing them of having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS.

Also Read: What is the PFI? Why has it been banned?

"Our investigation found that the PFI, which turned into action locally after the violence in Khargone, tried to instigate a particular community and collected about Rs 55 lakh donation from them in the name of helping the riot-hit people," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence wing) Rajat Saklecha told PTI.

Khargone city had witnessed communal clashes on April 10 during the Ram Navami celebrations, wherein stones were hurled, vehicles torched and some houses damaged, leading to the clamping of curfew in the entire city. He said the PFI had started its activities in 2008, but the organisation came into the light after spearheading the agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

The police official said that the PFI started spreading its activities in the guise of different organisations and was trying to extend its base in entire western Madhya Pradesh, especially in the districts bordering Rajasthan.

The organisation also tried to instigate people on communal lines after a bangle seller from Uttar Pradesh, Tasleem Ali (25), was beaten up in a locality here on August 22, 2021, Saklecha said, adding that before the organisation was banned, 70 to 75 people were associated with it in Indore. The PFI tried to get less educated people and daily wage earners associated with the outfit through social media, he said.

According to him, police forces have been deployed outside the local PFI office at Jawahar Marg after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seized objectionable material from here. Following the ban, security has been beefed up around the PFI's sealed office, Saklecha said.

The officials said that three PFI leaders were arrested on September 22 during NIA raids, while four more persons with links with the banned outfit were held on September 27 by the Madhya Pradesh Police.