Four Special Public Prosecutors Appointed By Centre For NIA Cases Related To PFI & Akhil Gogoi

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• Apr 20, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The Central government has appointed four advocates as special public prosecutors to handle matters on...

Digital Desk: The Central government has appointed four advocates as special public prosecutors to handle matters on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and its specific cases relating to the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI) and prominent peasant rights leader Akhil Gogoi before NIA Special Courts and Gauhati High Court, Kerala, Rajasthan, and Chennai.

According to a notice issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Makhan Phukan, Ajith Kumar S, Sneh Deep Khyaliya, and N Baaskaran have been designated to handle these cases across the four states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Assam.

These advocates have been appointed for a term of "three years, beginning on the date of publication of the notification and ending on the date of further orders, whichever is earlier."

Makhan will represent the NIA in the  Gauhati High Court, while Ajith and Sneh will represent the NIA at NIA Special Courts and High Courts in Kerala and Rajasthan.

N Baaskaran will represent the NIA before the NIA Special Court in Chennai and the High Court of Madras.

The Centre took the action in accordance with sub-section (1) of Section 15 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 (34 of 2008), as well as sub-section (8) of Section 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).

According to the notification, Makhan will handle RC-13/2019/NIA/GUW and RC-01/2020/NIA/GUW cases for the NIA. The agency brought these charges against Akhil Gogoi.

Ajith will be handling RC-02/2022/NIA/KOC related to the activities of PFI, its office bearers, members, and affiliates in Kerala for working to carry out unlawful activities, by encouraging vulnerable youth to join terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daesh, and Al-Qaida. The NIA opened the case on its own initiative on November 19, 2022.

Sneh will handle the RC-41/2022/NIA/DLI case, which was registered in September 2022, to investigate the criminal conspiracy hatched by PFI leaders and cadres with the goal of operating a divide between various communities in India by means of radicalization and arms training of naive Muslim youth, training them in the handling of weapons and explosives, and raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence with a primary objective of establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047.

However, Baaskaran will deal with the RC-42/2022/NIA/DLI case, which the NIA filed on September 19, 2022, in connection with the Tamil Nadu PFI case because the cadres and members of the banned outfit engaged in inciting religious hostility and carrying out activities that were detrimental to communal harmony with the aim of upsetting public peace and tranquility and causing dissatisfaction with India. The trained cadres were to be utilized to assault targets picked by PFI leaders at the district and state levels.