NIA attaches property of PFI member involved in 2016 murder of Hindu Front leader in Coimbatore

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached the property of a Popular Front of India (PFI) member involved in the 2016 murder of a Hindu Front leader in Coimbatore, an official statement issued on Friday said.

The property of accused Subair has been attached on orders of the NIA special court, Poonamallee, Chennai, it said.

Subair, along with other co-accused, all members of the proscribed PFI, were involved in the gruesome killing of C Sasikumar, spokesperson of Hindu Front, Coimbatore, said the statement issued by the NIA.

Sasikumar was brutally hacked with lethal weapons while he was returning home from his party office on his two-wheeler on September 22, 2016.

The accused, Saddam Hussain, Subair, Mubarak and Rafiqul Hassan, had attacked the victim in front of Chakra Vinayaka Temple under Thudiyalur Police Station limit, Coimbatore, it said.

Sasikumar sustained grievous injuries and later succumbed to the same.

The NIA took up the case from the Coimbatore police. The agency found that the conspiracy was hatched by accused PFI members with the aim of creating terror among a particular community and without any provocation or enmity, the NIA said.

The NIA, which has already charge sheeted all five accused in the case, found during investigation that Subair had, in 2020, transferred his property, purchased in 2012, to his mother via a gift settlement deed.

Since the transfer took place after the commission of the crime and post filing of the charge sheet, it was seen by the NIA as an attempt to thwart legal action against Subair.

In 2023, the NIA filed a petition seeking attachment and forfeiture of the said property, the statement said.

The special court, seeing merit in the application, ordered the attachment, it added.

The trial in this case commenced in 2022 and is ongoing.