NIA registers 94.70 pc conviction rate in 2023, attaches assets worth Rs 56 cr

New Delhi [India], December 31 : In its fight against terrorism, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered stupendous conviction rate of 94.70 per cent and attached assets worth around Rs 56 crores during 2023.
As compared with 490 accused arrested in 2022, the total number of arrests made by the NIA this year stood at 625 - a nearly 28 per cent increase over the previous year. These include 65 accused arrested in ISIS cases, 114 arrested for jihadi terror cases, 45 accused of human trafficking cases, 28 accused of terrorist and organized criminal activity and 76 accused of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) cases.

The anti-terror agency registered a total of 68 cases in 2023, covering a wide spectrum of terror related incidents. These encompass 18 Jihadi terror cases in multiple states, three cases from Jammu and Kashmir, 12 cases of LWE, seven cases involving terrorist and organised criminal activity in Punjab, five cases of the Northeast, and two cases related to Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).
The number of persons chargesheeted and convicted stood, respectively, at 513 and 74, as against 459 and 79 in 2022. The 74 accused convicted during 2023 were sentenced to various quantums of 'Rigorous Imprisonment' and 'fines' as punishment.
As far as absconders go, the NIA managed to track down and arrest 47 accused in 2023, which was 14 more than last year. One of the biggest breakthroughs in this regard came with the arrest of a key absconding accused in the Attari border heroin seizure case, involving smuggling of over 102 kgs of the narcotics from Afghanistan via the India-Pak border.
Also, arrests made upon deportation and extradition signify NIA's commitment to pursuing offenders across its international borders. While Amritpal Singh alias Ammy, Amrik Singh, Manpreet Singh alias Peeta and Mandeep Singh were deported from the Philippines, Vikram Brar was arrested upon deportation from the United Arab Emirates.
The number of searches and raids by the NIA also recorded a significant increase over the previous year, going up from 957 in 2022 to 1,040 in 2023.
In 2022, the agency had attached a total of 37 properties worth Rs 10.53 crore, while in 2023, the figure went up to 240 (including 156 bank accounts) with a total value of Rs 55.90 crore. These properties belonged to the accused and suspects involved in terrorism, LWE, explosives and other prominent cases. The attachments, made under various provisions of UA(P)A, included 12 properties (of which four were bank accounts), worth Rs 1.5 crore, of six listed 'Individual Terrorists'.
The crackdowns on violent Jihad across India proved to be a huge accomplishment for NIA during 2023, which saw several modules of the banned global ISIS being busted through nationwide raids and searches.
A total of 15 accused were arrested in December, following raids at 44 locations in Maharashtra and Karnataka, which also led to the seizure of huge amounts of incriminating materials. A similar crackdown led to the arrest of eight operatives of the ISIS Ballari module on December 18, thus enabling the NIA to foil the banned global terrorist organisations's plans to carry out a series of terror acts, especially IED blasts, across the country. Crackdowns were also carried out against such radicalized ISIS and HuT modules in Jabalpur and Bhopal in separate cases in September.
Dismantling of the terrorist-gangster nexus has been another priority of the NIA investigations. As part of its crackdown on this network, NIA registered two cases, charge-sheeted 55 persons, conducted 253 raids, arrested 27 persons and attached 18 properties in 2023.
Further, consistent coordination with international agencies has resulted in action against foreign nodes of the Syndicate. The arrest of Deepak Ranga, the prime accused in the RPG attack on the intelligence headquarters of Punjab Police, has been one of the most significant achievements of the NIA against terrorist-gangster syndicates.
Wanted in several cases of terrorism and criminal acts, Ranga was the Chief executioner of terrorist activities of Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda who is based in Pakistan and Lakhbir Singh Landa who is based in Canada- both are members of the proscribed terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and both are designated 'Individual Terrorists'.
Another significant action against the terrorist gangster syndicate was the arrest of Manpreet Peeta, the right-hand man of Designated 'Individual Terrorist' Arsh Dala who was running widespread terrorist and extortion activities for Arsh Dala while based in the Philippines.
The year 2023 also witnessed a sharp focus by the NIA on human trafficking involving Bangladesh and Myanmar nationals at the Indo-Bangladesh border. The arrest of four more accused from Tripura in December marked a major triumph for the NIA, which had earlier, in November, arrested 29 key operatives following nationwide raids on transnational Human Trafficking Syndicates involved in the case.
In another major success for the NIA, six individuals, namely Mohammed Amin Khubaiab alias Abu Khubalab alias Pinna alias Muhammed Amin Butt, Arbaz Ahmad Mir, Dr Asif Maqbool Dar, Arshdeep Singh Gill alias Arsh Dala, Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda and Lakhbir Singh Landa, were designated as 'Individual Terrorists' by the Government of India during the year. In addition, four terrorist organisations - The Resistance Force (TRF), People's Anti-Fascists Front (PAFF), Jammu and Kashmir Ghanzavi Force (JKGF) and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF)) - have been banned in response to the proposal made by the NIA. The agency is actively pursuing necessary actions against these designated individuals and terrorist organisations to effectively counter their activities.
The attacks on the High Commissions of India in Ottawa and London, as well as on the Consulate General of India, San Francisco, USA, also remained the focus of the NIA actions offences against Indian interests abroad through the year, which witnessed more than 50 raids and searches as part of the agency's efforts to unravel the conspiracy behind the attacks on Indian Missions abroad. The attacks had involved criminal trespass, vandalism, damage to public property, and attempts to cause hurt to Indian officials and damage the Consulate building through acts of arson.
The NIA has used several innovative methods of investigation, including crowd sourcing of information while investigating the larger conspiracy of attacks on Indian Missions, which resulted in identification of 43 suspects. The NIA has stepped up its investigation in these cases in recent months and examined more than 80 persons in India suspected to be part of the conspiracy of the attacks.

Overall, the year witnessed the NIA scale up its operations manifold across India as against the previous year.