NIA probe in Sasikumar murder case reveals connection to PFI and Zakir Naik

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary charge sheet against two members of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) after propaganda material was uncovered during a raid in connection with the murder of C Sasikumar.

During the raid on March 18 on the houses of four suspects, the NIA recovered PFI donation receipts, PFI literature, PFI Unity March CDs, mobile phones, compact disks and pen drives, DVD of Zakir Naik and other incriminating documents relating to PFI. The agency now believes that the PFI and IRF had a hand in influencing the murder.

C Sasikumar was the spokesperson of the religious and cultural organisation, Hindu Munnani based in Tamil Nadu. He was brutally hacked to death on September 22, 2016, by unidentified assailants armed with billhooks.

36-year-old Sasikumar was returning home on the night of September 22 when the gruesome incident occurred.

A case was registered the following day on September 23 at the Thudiyalur police station. While the local police formed multiple teams to nab the assailants, CID took charge of the investigation, revealing the involvement of four people - A Mubarak, S Subair, Sadam Hussain and Syed Abuthahir.

The murder was intended to spread terror among a section of the population, as per the CID report.

In January 2018, the state home ministry department directed the National Investigation Agency to take over the case after the investigation by Tamil Nadu police failed to make significant progress.

Earlier this month, the NIA appealed for custody of Mubarak, who is in judicial custody in Salem Central Prison. The agency won the appeal and was allowed the charge of Mubarak for seven days for interrogation. On June 3, Mubarak was taken to the crime scene as part of the investigation.

The agency has now filed the charge-sheet against Subair and Saddam Hussain, active members of the PFI, led by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. All four of the accused were arrested by the CID last year during the investigation, but a charge sheet against Mubarak and Syed Abuthakee is yet to be filed. The NIA is expected to do so by June end.

Following the murder, communal unrest in Coimbatore lead to the arrest of nearly 650 people.