National

Investigation
Agency

The National Investigation Agency (NIA)

is a central agency established by the
Indian Government to combat terror in
India.[3] It acts as the Central Counter
Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency. The
agency is empowered to deal with terror
related crimes across states without
special permission from the states. The
Agency came into existence with the
enactment of the National Investigation
Agency Act 2008 by the Parliament of
India on 31 December 2008.[4][5][6][7]
Headquartered in New Delhi, the NIA has
branches in Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kochi,
Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata, Raipur and
Jammu.[8]
 National Investigation Agency

Common name NIA

Agency overview

Formed 2009[1]

Employees 649[2]

Annual budget $16 million[2]

Jurisdictional structure

Federal agency India

Operations jurisdiction India

Governing body Ministry of Home

Affairs, Government of
India
General nature Federal law
enforcement
Headquarters New Delhi, India

Elected officer Amit Shah, Minister

responsible of Home Affairs

Agency executive Y. C. Modi, IPS,

Director General

Website

www.nia.gov.in

NIA was created after the 2008 Mumbai

terror attacks as need for a central
agency to combat terrorism was realised.
The conviction rate of this anti-terrorism
agency is currently 95 per cent as it has
managed to convict 167 accused in the
185 cases registered by it since its
inception.[9]

NIA headquarters in New Delhi

The founding Director-General of NIA

was Radha Vinod Raju, and he served till
31 January 2010. He was succeeded by
Sharad Chandra Sinha[10][11] till March
2013. In July 2013, Sharad Kumar was
appointed as the Chief of National
Investigation Agency. In 2017, Y. C. Modi
was named as Chief of NIA in
September.[12]

Bill
A Bill for the formation of the National
Investigation Agency was passed by
Parliament in December 2008. As per the
Bill, NIA has concurrent jurisdiction
which empowers the Central Agency to
probe terror attacks in any part of the
country, covering offences, including
challenge to the country's sovereignty
and integrity, bomb blasts, hijacking of
aircraft and ships, attacks on nuclear
installations. The amendments to the
NIA Act has brought the offences relating
to the smuggling in High-Quality
Counterfeit Indian Currency under the
definition of a terrorist Act aimed at
damaging the monetary stability of the
country and therefore can be
investigated by the NIA.

The ground staff of the agency in the

national capital could be drawn from
existing central staff and security
organisations while in the states,
permanent deputation from the state
police could be taken.

The National Investigative Agency Bill

and Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Amendment Bill on Tuesday, 30 Dec
2008, became a law as President
Pratibha Patil gave her assent to the
legislation which was passed in the last
session of the parliament.

NIA (Amendment) Bill 2019

The NIA (Amendment) Bill 2019 was
passed by the parliament on 17 July
2019. The Bill aims to give more teeth to
the investigating powers of the NIA. It
empowers the NIA to probe terror
attacks targeting Indians and Indian
interests abroad.[13] The amended
legislation, which aims to primarily
empower the anti-terror agency to
investigate scheduled offences such as
human trafficking; circulation of fake
currency; manufacture and sale of
prohibited arms; and cyber-terrorism,
was passed with a whopping majority of
278 votes in favour and six against in the
Lok Sabha. It was also passed in the
Rajya Sabha after those opposed to it
staged a walkout.[14] This amendment
will now also allow NIA to investigate the
Sri Lanka Easter Bombings.

Vision
Agency aims to be a thoroughly
professional investigative agency
matching the best international
standards. It aims to set the standards of
excellence in counter terrorism and other
national security related investigations at
the national level by developing into a
highly trained, partnership oriented
workforce. It also aims at creating
deterrence for existing and potential
terrorist groups/individuals. It aims to
develop as a storehouse of all terrorist
related information.[15]

Jurisdiction
The Agency has been empowered to
conduct investigation and prosecution of
offences under the Acts specified in the
Schedule of the NIA Act.[16] A State
Government may request the Central
Government to hand over the
investigation of a case to the NIA,
provided the case has been registered for
the offences as contained in the
schedule to the NIA Act. Central
Government can also order NIA to take
over investigation of any scheduled
offense anywhere in the India. Officers of
the NIA who are drawn from the Indian
Revenue Service, Indian Police Service,
state police, Income Tax as well as
officers from the Central Armed Police
Forces, have all powers, privileges and
liabilities which the police officers have
in connection with investigation of any
offense.[17]
On 2016 Home minister Rajnath Singh
wanted to end the central agency’s
dependence on approval from state
police chiefs before confiscating or
attaching assets of people accused of
crime.[18]

Special NIA Courts

Various Special Courts have been
notified by the Central Government of
India for trial of the cases registered at
various police stations of NIA under
Section 11 and 22 of the NIA Act 2008.
Any question as to the jurisdiction of
these courts is decided by the Central
Government. These are presided over by
a judge appointed by the Central
Government on the recommendation of
the Chief Justice of the High Court with
jurisdiction in that region. Supreme Court
of India has also been empowered to
transfer the cases from one special court
to any other special court within or
outside the state if the same is in the
interest of justice in light of the prevailing
circumstances in any particular state.
The NIA Special Courts are empowered
with all powers of the court of sessions
under Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
for trial of any offense.[16]

Trial by this courts are held on day-to-day

basis on all working days and have
precedence over the trial of any other
case against the accused in any other
court (not being a Special Court) and
have to be concluded in preference to the
trial of such other case. An appeal from
any judgement, sentence or order, not
being an interlocutory order, of a Special
Court lies to the High Court both on facts
and on law. Such an appeal can be heard
by a division bench of two Judges of the
High Court. At present there are 38
Special NIA Courts.[19] State
Governments have also been empowered
to appoint one or more such special
courts in their states.[16]

Recent success of NIA

In year 2012, NIA with the assistance of
Interpol and Saudi Intelligence agencies
has successfully arrested terrorists
namely: Abu Jundal alias Abu Hamza,
(Indian national), Fasih Mohammad and
Yaseen Bhatkal (Indian Mujahideen).[20]

In the year 2013, NIA was successful in

arresting two senior members of Indian
Mujahideen, namely Ahmed Siddibappa
Zaraar alias Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah
Akhtar alias Haddi, from Indo Nepal
border in Bihar on 29 August 2013. These
two were instrumental in the commission
of a number of terrorist attacks across
the country for the past several years,
under the banner of Indian Mujahideen, a
proscribed terrorist organisation.

It has identified two Naxalite

commanders in Bastar who were part of
the ambush that killed almost the entire
Congress' Chhattisgarh top brass.[21]

In 2014 NIA investigators began probing

the conspiracy of Jamaat-Ul-Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) a proscribed terrorist
organisation in Bangladesh, which was
conspiring to spread its terror network in
Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and
Jharkhand. The terrorist conspiracy in
India aimed at recruitment, radicalisation
and training of vulnerable Indian youths
in violent Jihadist ideology and terrorist
acts, collection of funds for the
organisational activities in India and
training them in fabrication and use of
Improvised explosive devices (IED's) and
firearms for terrorist acts. NIA has
arrested 20 persons in the case so far
and 27 accused have been charged so
far for their role in the conspiracy,
including 5 Bangladeshi nationals. NIA is
actively seeking and receiving
cooperation from the Bangladeshi
Government and law enforcement
agencies in the ongoing investigations.

NIA has been active in the war against

terror in Jammu and Kashmir. On 18
January 2018, NIA filed a chargesheet
against 12 people including Lashkar-e-
Taiba terror group chief Hafiz Saeed and
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed
Salahuddin.[22][23] This chargesheet was
filed after nearly eight months of
investigations spanning six states in
India during which over 300 witnesses
were examined, 950 "incriminating
documents" and 600 electronic devices
were seized.[24] NIA has also stated that
the war against terror in Kashmir is not
about terror funding alone, it's about a
conspiracy to wage war against India.[25]
During the investigation the NIA has
arrested people allegedly involved in
stone-pelting incidents for the first time
23. "Kashmir terror funding: NIA files
chargesheet against 12 people,
including Hafiz Saeed and Syed
Salahuddin - Firstpost" .
www.firstpost.com. Retrieved
28 January 2018.
24. "NIA files chargesheet in Kashmir
terror funding case: Shrinking
influence of separatists opens up
opportunity for dialogue - Firstpost" .
www.firstpost.com. Retrieved
28 January 2018.
25. "Pakistan Embassy Officials Involved
In Kashmir Terror Funding: NIA" .
NDTV.com. Retrieved 28 January
2018.