NIA conducts raids at 8 places in Punjab

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at eight locations in Punjab on Wednesday as part of its ongoing investigation into a gangster-terror nexus case, reliable sources said here today.

The raids that started early in the morning were underway till the filing of this report late in the evening. A senior official said the raids “aimed at cracking down on individuals and networks suspected of facilitating criminal activities linked to terror organisations. This follows the agency’s intensified efforts to curb growing nexus between gangsters and terror groups operating in the region”.

The action come as a follow-up to the extensive searches at nine locations linked with associates of Davinder Bambiha gangster syndicate in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Searches were carried out in Muktsar, Ferozepur and Jalandhar districts in Punjab. Incriminating material, including mobile phones, digital devices, banking transaction and property documents, were reportedly seized.

An NIA team conducted a raid at the residence of one Amandeep Singh in the Bathinda-Malout bypass area at Muktsar. Amandeep is currently lodged in the Nabha jail in connection with a case registered under the NDPS Act. The raid reportedly lasted for nearly five hours.

NIA sleuths also conducted a raid at the Central Jail in Ferozepur. Sources said the team checked high-security zone of the jail and quizzed undertrial Varinder Singh, alias Vimmi, a resident of Dharamshala Mour Kalan in Bathinda district who had been booked under Sections 353, 186 and 307 of the IPC and various provisions of the Arms Act.