In 18 months, NIA gets over 100 accused convicted

PTI, Jul 10, 2024, 8:13 AM IST

New Delhi: More than 100 accused have been convicted in terrorism and fake Indian currency notes (FICN) cases among others in the past 18 months, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Tuesday.

The anti-terror agency managed to get 79 accused convicted in 27 cases in 2023, followed by the conviction of 26 accused in the six cases in which the NIA special courts pronounced judgement in the first half of 2024, it said.

This has taken the number of accused convicted in various NIA cases, from 2019 till June 2024, to 354.

The convictions have come in 100 cases, from among a total of 103 case decisions passed by the NIA special courts during this period, said a statement issued by the agency.

From January 2023 till date, a maximum of 18 convictions have been secured in FICN cases.

This is followed by 15 accused being sentenced in ISIS related cases as a result of NIA’s concerted crackdown on the global terror network’s attempts to spread its wings in India through proliferation of modules across states.

“Meticulous investigation, backed by scientific methods, has enabled the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to successfully secure convictions against as many as 105 accused in 33 cases in the past 18 months,” it added.

NIA’s thorough probe has yielded 14 convictions in terror financing cases between 2023 and 2024, with an equal number of accused being punished by the courts in JBM (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh) sponsored terror cases.

“Year 2023 also witnessed a total of seven convictions against Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) terrorists, with another two of the terror group’s members being punished in 2024,” the agency said.

Another key target group for NIA has been the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), and the agency succeeded in getting six of its members convicted last year.

“Maoist terrorists have, in fact, been on NIA’s radar in a big way in recent times on account of their insurgency revival attempts, and the agency secured the conviction of five accused in the PLA (Maoist) case in 2023,” the statement said.

A total of seven convictions were pronounced in two different Naxal cases – three in one case in 2023 and four in another case in 2024.

Other convictions in the 18 months beginning January 2023 have been Babbar Khalsa International or BKI (4), CPI–Maoist (2), Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent or AQIS (2), and one each in Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) or NDFB (S) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) cases, it said.

“Committed to protecting India’s safety and integrity, NIA continues to scale up its investigation prowess to ensure that not a single guilty person gets away because of any inadequacies in its charge sheets filed before the courts,” the statement said.