NEW DELHI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested the main assailant behind the killing of RSS leader Sreenivasan in Palakkad, Kerala, in April 2022.
Shamnad E K alias Shamnad Illikkal, a resident of Manjeri in Kerala’s Malappuram district, was on the run since the murder. NIA had even declared a reward of Rs 7 lakh for his arrest. He was finally nabbed from Ernakulam by the NIA’s ‘absconder tracking team’.
NIA in a press release said Shamnad had been under the protection of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and was living under a concealed identity since the gruesome killing of Sreenivasan.
NIA probe revealed that the murder conspiracy was hatched by PFI leaders and cadres with the aim to create communal divide. The outfit was engaged in radicalising vulnerable Muslim youth to promote its violent agenda of establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047. The recruits were trained in handling weapons by PFI, which was also actively raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence in the country, NIA said.
PFI was declared an ‘unlawful association’ and its entire leadership arrested in nationwide raids across its offices in September 2022.
NIA said PFI was executing its nefarious designs through multiple wings and units, such as ‘reporters wing’, ‘physical and arms training wing’ and ‘service teams’ and imparting arms training to selected cadres at its facilities in the guise of physical education, yoga training, etc.
NIA has so far chargesheeted 63 accused as part of its ongoing investigations in the case.