Khalistan-Organised Criminals Nexus Case: NIA Raids 16 Places In Punjab, Rajasthan; 6 Persons Being Examined

New Delhi [India] : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted raids at 16 locations in Punjab and Rajasthan in its ongoing investigations against Khalistan and organised criminals’ nexus, detaining six persons to question them.

The raids are underway at these 16 locations, which include 14 in Punjab and two in Rajasthan. The NIA’s investigations are ongoing and include efforts to destroy the nexus between terrorists, gangsters, and drug smugglers. The NIA’s goal is to dismantle the nexus’s infrastructure, including funding channels.

The agency has carried out the search operation since early Tuesday morning in close coordination with state police forces. The raids are being conducted based on some specific inputs.

The places being searched are residential and other premises of the suspects having links with Khalistani supporters and those involved in criminal nexus.

“NIA is conducting searches in ongoing investigations against Khalistan and organised criminal nexus at 14 locations in Punjab and 2 locations in Rajasthan. Subsequent to searches, six people are being examined for their involvement in terrorist activities,” said the NIA.

The six persons picked for questioning are reportedly having indulged in terrorist activities and are in close contact with some fugitive designated Khalistani terrorists through social media networks and other means of communication.

The move comes almost two months after NIA Director General Dinkar Gupta raised candid and wide-ranging issues in December 2023 while meeting with the Director of the FBI, Christopher A Wray. He had raised activities of terrorist-organised criminal networks, ongoing investigations in the US in the attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, and investigations of cyber-terror and cyber-crimes of various kinds in the meeting.

Gupta then highlighted the active nexus between the terrorist outfits and terrorist elements with members of organised criminal syndicates, which was spreading to the US as well.