The NIA’s Chennai branch office has been designated as a police station under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by a GO issued by the Tamil Nadu government earlier this week, enabling the agency to file a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with cases involving the entire State of Tamil Nadu.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s premier counter-terrorism task force, is currently handling up to 15 cases in the state and has been negotiating with the Tamil Nadu government to obtain ‘police station’ status for its Chennai branch office in order to register FIRs for cases taken up from the state.
Though the NIA has been operating in Chennai for many years, it formally opened its branch office in Purasaiwalkam in April 2021, shortly before the Assembly elections, and has appointed an SP-level officer to lead its operations.
However, the branch has yet to be properly launched because it is awaiting clearance from the State government to operate as a police station. The agency’s Chennai section now has the full prosecutorial powers of a police station and can record cases here. So far, cases from Tamil Nadu have been filed in Kochi, Kerala, and Delhi.
With inputs from News7 Tamil
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