Four arrested in Hubli for links with PFI

The Bangalore City Crime Branch police have arrested four persons with alleged links to the Popular Front of India (PFI), following information gathered during the interrogation of suspected ultras arrested in the State recently.

The arrested are said to have been taken to Bangalore for questioning.

Meanwhile, S R Ganachari and Prashant Siddanagoudar, officers of the State internal security wing, arrived in the city and conducted inspections at the houses of the arrested to gather more information about the suspected terrorists.

Three of the arrested are from the Old Hubli settlement and Mantoor Road, while the other is from Dharwad.

A CCB officer confirmed the arrests to Deccan Herald, but refused to name them in the interest of investigation. While three of the PFI activists worked at a garage, off Karwar Road, the other is a BBA student. They reportedly came in contact with PFI through the suspected terrorists.

The three garage workers were ‘recruited’ as assistants for anti-social activities and for the planned jewellery shop heist, by Dr Jaffer Iqbal and Obedullah Imran.

The trio were paid Rs 5,000 a month. The garage workers, who are not much educated, were indoctrinated through jihadi literature and doctored videos of violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gujarat.

The investigators have secured transaction details of Dr Jaffer’s account in the State Bank of Hyderabad branch at Keshwapur in Hubli.

It is said all of them used to assemble at a hall on Karwar Road late night every day. The Old Hubli police were tipped off about the activities two months ago.

Following warnings by the police, they were learnt to have shifted their activities to two houses in Kripa Nagar and Sonia Gandhi Nagar. It is said the bike recovered from the house of suspected ultra Sadiq Lashkari was a stolen one and had a fake number plate.

Police are investigating the links of the suspects with the two-wheeler theft network in Hubli.