The NIA on Saturday arrested the Bihar president of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in the 2022 Phulwarisharif criminal conspiracy case.
Mahboob Alam alias Mahboob Alam Nadvi, a resident of the Hasanganj area in Katihar district of Bihar, was nabbed from Kishanganj, a statement issued by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said.
According to the agency, Alam is the 19th accused to be arrested and charge-sheeted in the case, in which the local police initially booked 26 people. The case pertains to PFI associates involved in unlawful and anti-national activities aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror by spreading religious enmity between members of different religions and groups, the NIA said. "The case is related to activities prejudicial to peace and harmony, and intended to disrupt public tranquillity and cause disaffection against India, justifying the use of criminal force," it said.
Members of the PFI indulged in spreading fear amongst the general public through promotion of its ideology seeking to establish the rule of Islam in India as envisaged in the outfit's seized vision document titled "India 2047 Towards Rule of Islam in India, Internal Document: Not for circulation", the NIA said.
Alam was found to be part of the PFI conspiracy as stated in the said document, seized from Ahmad Palace in Patna's Phulwarisharif on July 11, 2022, it said.
Along with co-accused persons, Alam was engaged in recruitment, training, meetings and anti-national activities of the PFI.
He also raised funds and provided the same to the co-accused and PFI cadres, according to the NIA.
The Centre strongly defended the Act, saying waqf by its very nature was a “secular concept” and can’t be stayed given the “presumption of constitutionality” in its favour.
Moreover, though waqf was an Islamic concept, it was not an essential part of Islam, it added.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, leading the petitioners, described the law as a “complete departure from historical legal and constitutional principles” and a means to “capture waqf through a non-judicial process”.
On April 25, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the amended Waqf Act of 2025 and opposed any “blanket stay” by the court on a “law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament”.
The Centre notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 after it got President Droupadi Murmu’s assent on April 5.
The bill was cleared by Lok Sabha with the support of 288 members while 232 MPs were against it. The Rajya Sabha saw 128 members voting in its favour and 95 against it.