NIA arrests key absconding PFI member in RSS leader Srinivasan's murder case

New Delhi [India], March 19 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has traced and arrested a key absconding member of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) for the 2022 gruesome murder of RSS leader Srinivasan in Kerala, the agency said on Tuesday.
Shafeekh, was tracked by the NIA Absconder Tracking Team to Kollam district on Monday and taken into custody by the anti-terror agency for his involvement in the case. He had been absconding since the targeted killing of Srinivasan in Palakkad on April 16, 2022.
A resident of Malappuram district, Shafeekh, was part of the PFI machinery and hit squads that had carried out the heinous killing of Srinivasan.
As per NIA investigations, Shafeekh had harboured Ashraf KP, who, under directions from the PFI leadership, had conspired with other leaders and cadres of the organisation to execute the conspiracy. Ashraf had also conducted a recce of various potential targets for elimination.
A total of 71 people have been identified as being part of the horrendous conspiracy, in which the NIA has already filed two chargesheets, on March 17, 2023 and November 6, 2023.
One of the accused, identified as Abdul Naser, had died on January 2 last year, while two absconders, Saheer K V and Jaffar Bheemantavida, were arrested respectively on October 19, 2023, and February 12 this year.