C A Rauf, former state secretary of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) who was arrested the other day, faced dissidence from their own outfit for his recent hardcore stances on many issues.
An NIA team surrounded his house at Karimbully in Pattambi late on Thursday night and nabbed him. They took him to Kochi after completing the arrest procedures in half an hour.
Rauf, known as the brain of the PFI, was the one behind the exhortation of the hartal call after its senior leaders were taken into custody post the ban of the outfit by the Centre. However, the violent incidents across the state during the hartal day turned out to be a big blow to the outfit, further losing support among the masses.
An NIA Special court remanded him in judicial custody till November 18. It will consider the plea of the investigators for his custody and interrogation on October 31. The NIA, in its report filed against him, claimed the PFI had planned to murder many prominent figures in the state and that the shreds of evidence collected during the raids are proof of the conspiracy. The NIA team suspects that Rauf controlled the day-to-day activities of the outfit and had instigated the widespread violence during the hartal called after the banning of the outfit.
He was also accused of raising funds from abroad and providing legal aid to workers. After the PFI ban, the NIA nabbed the main PFI leaders last month. However, Rauf was on the run. Though the officers twice arrived at his house in search of him, the PFI leader remained elusive.
However, his relatives claimed that the NIA team came at a time when he had gone out and that he never went into hiding. Meanwhile, there were allegations that Rauf had handed over sensitive issues regarding the outfit to the NIA. The delay in his arrest further gave strength to the arguments. Rauf is also an accused in the murder of RSS leader S K Srinivasan. The investigation team got information that Rauf, 41st accused in the case, was one of the main conspirators.
