New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh police caught 4 people on Mathura toll plaza on Monday, all with links to radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). They were identified as Atiq-ur Rehman of Muzaffarnagar, Siddique of Malappuram, Masood Ahmed of Bahraich and Alam of Rampur and were reportedly travelling to Hathras, the epicenter of protests.

Out of them, Siddique Kappan has been found to be Delhi Office Secretary of PFI who worked under the guise of journalism to further Islamic outfit’s objectives.

Not just PFI, UP police has also arrested members of SDPI, an arm of PFI and Welfare Party. All these outfits have their offices in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area.

This comes after UP govt said in unequivocal terms that an international conspiracy was hatched in the backdrop of gruesome murder of Hathras girl to defame the Yogi government.

Siddique Kappan worked as a journalist with a Kerala based newspaper named Tejas, now defunct. The paper was run by PFI. While working under the garb of being a journalist, he actually indulged in spreading the agenda and propaganda of radical outfits like PFI. After Tejas shutdown, he kept his journalist profile alive by writing columns for online websites but in reality, his intentions, writings and actions have been pro-PFI.

ED has already begun investigations against those caught in protests and clashes with UP police in Hathras. PFI members will be investigated for their source of funding and financing as their role had come under scanner during anti-CAA protests and Delhi riots.

Siddique Kappan was caught by UP police along with other PFI activists/members. Journalist union, KUWJ has come out in his support, claiming that he is a journalist but his dubious profile of PFI secretary and a journo calls for deep examination. As per investigative agencies, this is the usual trick of such radical groups to infiltrate their cadre in certain sectors for dubious activities.