Narath case to be referred to NIA, says Thiruvanchoor

KASARGOD: Kerala government has decided to refer to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the case connected with seizure of country bombs and weapons from a training camp conducted by radical outfit Popular Front of India at Narath in Kannur district.

The case was being referred to the NIA in view of the case's inter-state links, state home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan told reporters at Kanhangad near Kasargod on Friday.

The investigation by state police into last month's incident had come across evidence that foreign funds had been transferred to the bank account of one of the accused in the case, police sources said.

An examination of the bank account of one of those arrested in the case found that an amount of Rs 70 lakh from an account in Dubai had been received by him and it had been withdrawn by the accused, sources said.

Information received from the phone details of the same accused found that he had made contacts with a relative of an accused taken into custody in connection with the April 17 Bangalore blast case, the sources said.

A total of 21 activists of the PFI had been arrested in connection with the case and all of them were charged under the Unlawful Activities Preventions Act.

Police suspect that the weapons were collected and training camps organised for execution of some operation elsewhere in the State or some other part of the country. Literature seized from the house of an accused showed that the intention was to create Hindu-Muslim rift, the sources said.

The PFI leaders, however, refuted the allegations against the outfit holding that the case was fabricated by police and sought an independent inquiry into it.