The government has widened the scope of the ISIS Investigation Research Cell in the National Investigation Agency to other theatres of terrorism and renamed it as the counter terrorism research cell, the home ministry informed Parliament on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, junior home minister Nityanand Rai said exclusive divisions, such as the anti-human trafficking division, anti-cyber terrorism division, the financial action task force cell, the financial analysis unit and a special cell comprising legal experts, have also been created in the NIA.
He said a specialised unit — the national terror data fusion and analysis centre — has been established in the agency for enabling big data analytics and facilitating automation and digitisation of the investigative processes to strengthen supervision and enhance efficiency, consistency and accountability.
Rai said the NIA has 1,901 sanctioned posts at present, of which 769 have been sanctioned over the last five years. “Further, the mandate of NIA has also been expanded to investigate offences related to Explosive Substances Act, 1908, human trafficking, cyber terrorism and Arms Act, 1959. Footprint of NIA has been expanded pan-India, by establishing 21 branch offices... with two zonal offices (in Guwahati and Jammu) and headquarters at Delhi,” he said.