NIA court sentences four PFI members to life for 2016 murder

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Poonamallee, Chennai, has sentenced four members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) to life imprisonment for the 2016 murder of C. Sasikumar. Sasikumar was the spokesperson for Hindu Munnani in Coimbatore.

The convicted individuals—Sadam Hussain, Subair, Mubarak, and Mohammad Rafiqul Hassan—were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 30,000 each. This verdict represents the NIA’s first conviction involving PFI operatives since the Indian government officially banned the organization in 2022.

On September 22, 2016, Sasikumar was killed in Coimbatore in a targeted attack intended to incite communal disruption and spread terror. The incident triggered widespread violence across six districts in Tamil Nadu, resulting in over 300 FIRs. Following an initial investigation by the CB-CID, the case was transferred to the NIA in January 2018. The court convicted the four men under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, while acquitting one co-accused.