Kerala – According to the strict Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached one of the largest and oldest Arms and Physical Training Centres that is a part of the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI) as “proceeds of terrorism.” It is the sixth PFI Arms Training Centre and the 18th piece of real estate connected to the outlawed group that the NIA has attached in Kerala as part of its continuous efforts to combat terrorism.
The training facility known as the Green Valley Academy, which was located in Manjeri, Kerala, and covered a sizable 10-hectare area, was run by the “Green Valley Foundation” (GVF). According to the investigation agency, the property was initially used by the National Development Front’s cadres before being amalgamated with the PFI.
An investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found that the PFI used this site to train its cadres, particularly those connected to their “Service Wing,” in the use of weapons, physical fitness, and explosives use and testing. Numerous “PFI Service Wing” personnel are said to have used the centre as a hiding after committing crimes, including murder.
The training facility was additionally used to indoctrinate radical and divisive ideological instruction into PFI’s trained operatives, cadres, and members in order to advance the organization’s social agenda and goals. The location held the PFI’s offices as well as those of its frontal, falsely educational organisations.
Five further PFI training facilities in Kerala, including Malabar House, Periyar Valley, Valluvanad House, Karunya Charitable Trust, and Trivandrum Education and Service Trust (TEST), have already been the target of NIA action. There are also an extra 12 offices attached, which are occasionally used by the leadership of the group to organise various criminal and terrorist acts, organise weapons and physical training, and spread ideology.
The PFI’s modus operandi, which entails running such training centres under the pretence of charity and educational trusts created by members or leaders of the organisation, has been revealed by the NIA’s investigations.
On March 17, 2023, the NIA filed a chargesheet in which it accused 59 people, including the PFI as a whole.
