Popular Front of India (PFI) State committee member Yahiya Thangal and State general secretary P.K. Usman were taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from their houses at Perumbilavu and Kecheri respectively in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday.
The raids were conducted with strong police security in the wee hours on Thursday. PFI/Social Democratic Party of India activists took out rallies in protest against the raids. Calling the raid an act of State-sponsored terrorism, activists alleged that the attempt was to destabilise the PFI in the country.
Lathicharge
The police lathicharged the protesting PFI/SDPI activists and a few of them sustained minor injuries. The NIA/ED team also raided the PFI office at Chavakkad at 5.30 a.m. on Thursday. The raid lasted almost half an hour. The investigative agency took away a laptop and receipts from the office. In protest against the raid, the PFI activists took out a rally in Chavakkad.
