NIA attached over 400 properties across country since 2019

A source said the NIA was using Section 24 (Reference to proceeds of terrorism to include any property intended to be used for terrorism and Section 24A (Forfeiture of proceeds of terrorism) in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, cases. “The highest spike of attaching and confiscating property came in the last two years when the NIA frequently started using the Section 33 (1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967,” the source said.

A source said 392 properties were attached and 11 confiscated since 2019. “Among 392 properties, 206 have been attached by the Ranchi branch of the federal probe agency, which is the highest. The Ranchi branch of NIA is probing cases linked to Maoists spread across mainly in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand,” the source said.

Data shows that 99 properties were attached by the Jammu branch, and one was confiscated . “Last year, the NIA sealed the APHC headquarters in Srinagar’s Rajbagh area on the orders of a Delhi court in a terror-funding case. The agency attached 17 properties of one Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali in the Hurriyat terror-funding case in Kashmir,” a source said.

The Chandigarh branch of the anti-terror probe agency attached 33 properties belonging to Khalistan separatists and their supporters, the officials said. “Last year, the NIA attached the house of two brothers, accused in a Pak-sponsored narco-terror case, in Amritsar district of Punjab. The case relates to a conspiracy hatched by a narco terror module to smuggle large quantities of drugs into India from Pakistan,” the source said. The agency also attached property of Canada-based listed terrorist Arshdeep Singh Gill alias Arsh Dalla.

As many as 22 properties were attached by the New Delhi branch of the NIA, 27 (including eight confiscated ones) by the Kochi branch, five by Mumbai, four by Hyderabad, three by Chennai and one by Lucknow branch. “The properties belonging to the workers and supporters of banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) have also been attached or confiscated by the NIA,” a source said.