India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) apprehended Wednesday an accused offender who had absconded after skipping bail in an espionage case that implicated individuals from Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The NIA said in their statement announcing the arrest:
Nuruddin [, alias] Rafi, who was carrying cash reward of Rs. 5 lakhs, was nabbed from Rajiv Nagar areaof Mysuru, Karnataka today by an NIA team. Following his arrest, a house search was also conducted andseveral incriminating materials, including mobile phones, laptop, pen drives, Drone, etc., were recovered.
The case pertains to an alleged terror conspiracy by Sri Lankan national Muhammed Sakir Hussain and Amir Zubair Siddique, a Pakistani national employed at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo. In 2014, the NIA said that Muhammed Sakir Hussain and his associates conspired to carry out a terrorist act at the US Consulate in Chennai, the Israeli Consulate in Bangalore, and the Electronic City in Bangalore, among other important targets.
In this case, the NIA charged Hussain and his co-conspirators under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) for a criminal conspiracy to “cause loss of life and damage to public property to cause panic among the public and destroy peace and harmony among the public in South India.” Three of the accused were also charged with conspiring to procure high-quality counterfeit Indian paper currency and circulate it to damage India’s monetary stability.
Nuruddin, the alleged offender who had absconded, had a non-bailable warrant issued against him previously when he didn’t appear before the NIA Special Court in Chennai concerning the 2014 terror conspiracy case, despite being released on bail under strict conditions in August 2023. The court declared him a “proclaimed offender” (PO) on May 7, 2024.
According to the NIA, Nuruddin was acting on the orders of a Pakistani national. The trial, previously halted due to Nuruddin’s escape, will now resume.
The NIA is a specialised counter-terrorism law enforcement agency in India. A written proclamation from the Ministry of Home Affairs empowers the agency to investigate terror-related crimes across states without special permission from the states.
