Sasikumar case: NIA seeks reply from PFI

“We received a fax from the NIA asking us to reply on the subject by Monday at NIA office in Chennai. We are preparing the replay. Our members were never involved in the crime and the arrested were not our members,” PFI spokesperson told DT Next. 

The outfit also reacted strongly and accused the NIA of dancing to the tune of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and targeting Muslim community. In a statement issued by PFI state chief, M Mohamed Ismail, the case was being probed by TN CB-CID and the agency was on the verge filing charge sheet, when the case was taken over by the NIA suddenly. “This move itself had raised many doubts,” Ismail said.  

“While accused of many other murder cases were still at large, the NIA taking over the Sasikumar murder case shows that it was a deliberate move to target Muslims. If you look closely, the suspects in cases related to two murders of Muslim men before and after the murder of Sasikumar are yet to be cracked. As many as 237 cases including bomb attack on a mosque and setting a police vehicle on fire, registered by the police after violence following the murder of Sasikumar are yet to be probed,” the PFI statement said. 

Sasikumar was murdered in September 2016 in Coimbatore by bike borne gang and CBCID had already arrested two main suspects before the case was taken over by the NIA. PFI statement further noted that the outfit would fight against all efforts by the government to defame it using NIA and would convert it to a people’s struggle. 

B Sadham alias Sadham Hussain and S Subair of Coimbatore were active members of PFI and conspired along with other accused Abu alias Abuthagir and Mohammed Mubarak, also PFI men, to kill Sasikumar, a spokesperson of Hindu Munnani, Coimbatore district, to instil a sense of fear among non-Muslims or non-believers of Islam, NIA has stated in its charge sheet.