Surya had met with the Home Secretary at the latter’s residence last week to request a full NIA office in Bengaluru.
Union Interior Minister Amit Shah has promised that a permanent headquarters of the National Investigation Agency will soon be established in Bengaluru, said South Bengaluru Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya. Addressing reporters on Sunday, Surya, who was nominated on Saturday as the national president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (youth wing of the BJP), said that Shah’s swift action came in the wake of the alleged increase in terrorism-related activities. in Bengaluru and Karnataka in the last few years.
Surya had met with the Home Secretary at the latter’s residence last week and stressed the need to establish a branch of the NIA in Bengaluru along the lines of those currently in Hyderabad and Kochi.
“It is of great concern that the NIA investigations into the mob violence of DJ Halli and KG Halli in August have indicated that many terrorist organizations are using Bengaluru as their incubation center to carry out activities against India.” Surya said in a statement.
“That being the case, it is also important to equip the investigating agency, the NIA, with the appropriate infrastructure and personnel to carry out its investigation into the terrorism-related activities in Karnataka. There are reports that the NIA does not have sufficient infrastructure and human resources to conduct investigations. NIA is currently operating with skeletal personnel and that too from Hyderabad with only one camp office in Bengaluru, ”he added.
Surya said it is important to keep Bengaluru free from terrorist activities and a well-equipped and well-staffed NIA office would help mitigate such activities.
“As Bengaluru is the financial powerhouse of South India, it is vital to keep the city safe from all terrorist and anti-India organizations and their activities. An NIA investigation in March 2020 revealed that four terrorism defendants in Bengaluru helped ISIS member Khaja Mohideen acquire weapons and equipment to establish a base in the forests of southern India, to wage a violent jihad in India. My request for a regional branch of the NIA is made in this context, ”said Tejasvi.
Interior Minister Shah has assured Surya that he will instruct officials to establish a Permanent Station House staffed by an office of the rank of the SP at the earliest, the MP said.
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