Theyear 2020 proved a fruitful year for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) asit cracked two major cases and filed charge sheets in the 2019 Pulwama terrorattack case and the 2017 Bhima Koregaon violence case.
OnFebruary 14, 2019, terrorists rammed an explosive laden vehicle into thecavalcade of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy leaving at least 40troopers dead.
Followingthe delay in the charge sheet in the 2019 terror attack case, the oppositionparties have questioned the government. TheNIA filed 13,500 page charge sheet in a Special Court in Jammu in late Augustthis year and named Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, his brothersAbdul Rauf Asghar and Ammar Alvi, slain JeM terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq, whois son of IC 814 hijacking conspirator Ibrahim Athar suicide bomber Adil AhmedDar and other terrorist commanders operating from Pakistan.
Theseare apart from the six arrested accused in the case. TheNIA filed the charge sheet along with the pictures and digital evidence of thePulwama terror attack. TheNIA also named absconding accused Sameer Dar in the Pulwama terror attack casealong with two Pakistani nationals -- Mohammad Kamran and Mohammad Ismail aliasSaifuddin, both IED experts.
Accordingto NIA officials, the agency has prepared a watertight case against the peoplenamed in the charge sheet along with all the irrefutable evidence, includingtheir chats and call details to highlight the role of Pakistan.
TheNIA has claimed that this attack was a plot hatched by the Pakistan-basedterror group to project the attack as part of the home-grown militancy inKashmir. The NIA has also accused several top commanders of the terrorist groupin its charge sheet.
TheNIA found that Mohd Iqbal Rather, a resident of Badgam in J&K was inconstant touch with the Pakistan-based leadership of the JeM and was incommunication with them over secure messaging applications and was also part ofthe transportation module of the terrorist organisation.
TheNIA has also claimed that JeM chief Azhar, along with his brothers Asghar andAlvi, was continuously giving directions and guidance to the Pakistaniterrorists who had infiltrated into India using Pakistani SIM cards andWhatsApp calls and messages, both before and after the 2019 Pulwama terrorattack in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed.
ThePakistani SIM cards were even active after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. TheNIA also intercepted the WhatsApp messages and the photographs shared withtheir handlers in Pakistan. TheNIA also alleged that the JeM had initially planned the attack for February 6,2019, but due to heavy snowfall and closure of the highway, the attack wasdeferred to February 14.
TheNIA also got the assistance from the FBI to crack the WhatsApp calls andmessages and other messages shared on other secure messaging platforms. TheNIA alleged that they had also planned to carry out another suicide attackwhich was averted due to the Balakot airstrikes by the Indian Air Force and dueto the killing of the main conspirator Farooq by security forces.
Further,due to international pressure, Pakistan had to lay low, the NIA said. TheNIA further alleged that during investigation it was revealed that there was a"well-crafted mechanism" by the Pakistani establishment to pushterrorists into the Indian territory from the launch pads located in Pakistan'sShakargarh opposite Samba-Kathua sector in Jammu.
Similarly,the NIA also made a major breakthrough in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishadcase as it filed 10,000-page supplementary charge sheet at a Special NIA courtin Mumbai against eight accused -- Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu, Anand Teltumbde,Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Milind Teltumbde and Stan Swamy.
Theanti-terror probe agency conducted meticulous, scientific and detailed analysisof more than 10,000 pages of communications made by various accused, and wentthrough reliable oral, documentary and material evidence before filing thecharge sheet.
NIA'sinvestigation revealed that the tentacles of conspiracy were not only spreadthroughout the country, but also extended beyond India," the officialsaid.
Accordingto officials, incriminating documents recovered from the accused include their"discreet communications" with other Maoist cadres regardingconspiracy related to the violent incident of Bhima Koregaon as part of theirwell chalked-out strategy.
TheNIA claimed that the accused used "discrete codes" for secretcommunication among themselves to avoid detection by the security forcesregarding their conspiracy and planning. Theinvestigation further revealed a systematic network of Maoists operating forsupply of arms and ammunition having close nexus with other bannedorganisations within and outside India, the NIA claimed.
TheNIA had registered a case on January 24 this year. The case pertains toinciting people and giving provocative speeches during the Elgar Parishadorganised by the activists of Kabir Kala Manch at Shaniwarwada in Pune onDecember 31, 2017, which promoted enmity between various caste groups and ledto violence resulting in loss of life and property and state-wide agitations inMaharashtra.
Besidesthese two high profile cases, the NIA also started probing another high profilecase that rocked the politics in the southern state of Kerala. TheNIA registered a case after the gold smuggling case first surfaced when P.S.Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Kerala, was arrested by theCustoms Department on July 5 when he was allegedly facilitating the smugglingof 30 kg gold in a diplomatic baggage from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram.
Thecase became murkier when the involvement of Swapna Suresh, a former employee ofthe UAE Consulate later employed with the Kerala IT Department, came to light.Her links allegedly stretched to the Chief Minister as she had connections withM. Sivasankar, Kerala's senior IAS official and secretary to CM PinarayiVijayan.
Shelater revealed that Sivasankar was her mentor. TheNIA has made several arrests in the case and a team of the agency alsotravelled to Dubai to question several of the people linked in the case.
TheNIA also made progress in the narco-terror case related to the smuggling ofdrugs from Pakistan to India, the Khalistani module case against members of theSikh for Justice, ISIS Delhi module case among few to name.