The National Investigation Agency has been authorized by the Central Government to investigate drug-related cases, and senior government officials confirmed that this may be a precursor to the agency, originally created to deal with crimes related to terrorism, to which He was asked to examine the case surrounding the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, which has since grown into a major investigation into drug use in the film industry.
If that happens, the NIA will become the fourth federal agency to get involved in the case, after the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Directorate of Enforcement and the Office of Narcotics Control.
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The Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance issued a notice on Tuesday saying that the Center, after consulting with the states, “ invests officials at and above the rank of inspectors in the NIA to exercise powers and perform duties. ” in accordance with section 53 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985.
This section allows the government to grant to any officer “ the powers of a police station to investigate the crimes contemplated in this law. ” The NIA was established a year after the Mumbai serial explosions of 2008 to specifically target terrorism-related activities across the country. In an amendment to the NIA law last year, the agency was also given jurisdiction to investigate cases involving human trafficking, counterfeit bills, and cyber terrorism, but narcotics cases were not yet in its purview, until Tuesday’s order that was signed by the undersecretary. Biswajit Sarkar.
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A government official familiar with the development said, on condition of anonymity, that the order could “expand the scope of ongoing investigations in the RSS case, where drug, money laundering and national security problems have emerged.”
A second government official who asked not to be named said the importance of the notification was that even cases that were previously solely the domain of the OCN could now be handled by the NIA.
While Tuesday’s notification said states had been consulted, a Maharashtra government minister said he was not aware of any communication on the matter.
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The death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput on June 14 has become a political issue, with the government of Bihar playing a major role in transferring the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which the government of Maharashtra criticized. While CBI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, the Office of Narcotics Control is dealing with the role of drugs in the case. Rajput actress and girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty is in custody for her role in an alleged “drug syndicate” and for allegedly procuring drugs for the actor. ED is investigating the money laundering aspects of the investigation.
The second officer added that the need to issue this notice was due to a possible “ national interest ” lead that the NIA needed to investigate.
“It is a good step, especially in light of the growing links between terrorist modules and drug traffickers. NIA agents can effectively investigate narco-terrorism offenses. It would have no impact on the powers of the state police, as the powers of state police officers to investigate NDPS crimes have not been diluted, ” said former NIA and currently ADG (law and order) Assam, GP Singh.
Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar said he is not aware of the Center having consulted the state government on this. “Even during my tenure as additional chief secretary of the Department of the Interior, I don’t recall any such proposals,” he said.
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