MP: NIA conducts raids in Bhind, Barwani districts, questions one person

The National Investigation Agency NIA questioned a man after conducting raids in Bhind and Barwani districts of Madhya Pradesh as part of action being carried out in six states, officials said on Wednesday.The central agency was carrying out raids at more than 150 places across Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand in connection with cases related to narco-terror-gangster nexus, they said.In Madhya Pradesh, its team nabbed a person from Bhind district and also conducted raids in Sendhwa town of Barwani district, said state home minister Narottam Mishra.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) questioned a man after conducting raids in Bhind and Barwani districts of Madhya Pradesh as part of action being carried out in six states, officials said on Wednesday.

The central agency was carrying out raids at more than 150 places across Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand in connection with cases related to narco-terror-gangster nexus, they said.

In Madhya Pradesh, its team nabbed a person from Bhind district and also conducted raids in Sendhwa town of Barwani district, said state home minister Narottam Mishra. Jitender Singh, who was apprehended in Bhind district, told reporters afterwards that NIA officials searched his house. They then took him to the police station and asked about a transaction in his account, he said.

His brother, who lives in the Philippines, regularly sends him money, Singh said, adding that on one occasion he conducted a transaction of Rs 50,000 in a hurry through a third person and the agency officials questioned him about it.

They also took away his mobile phone while allowing him to go home, he said. Minister Mishra said the NIA operation was part of the raids being carried out at more than 150 places in the country. In Sendhwa, the NIA team raided a place where members of the Sikligar community live, he said, without giving further details.

Members of the community have been under the scanner of security agencies in some states as some of them have been allegedly involved in illegal manufacturing and supply of weapons.

The NIA had registered three cases last year following information suggesting that terrorist outfits and their sympathisers abroad were operating as members of organised criminal gangs active in northern states for targeted killings and violent criminal acts.

It has also emerged that the terror-gangster-drug smuggler network was also engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware such as arms, ammunition explosives and IEDs among others across borders through a widespread interstate network of gun runners, illegal arms and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers and explosive traffickers. The NIA has already arrested 19 members of various criminal gangs, two arms suppliers and one financier connected with the network under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.