New Delhi [India], March 30 (ANI): The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday intimated to the Rajya Sabha that the cases registered by its anti-terrorist agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in the last five years do not suggest "any definitive pattern", however, a date shared by it shows the agency has been filing nearly 60 cases since 2018.

As per the MHA data shared by Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai in the Upper House, while giving a written reply to a query of Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas, the data showed that 36 cases were registered by the NIA in 2017 followed by 59 in 2018, 62 in 2019, 59 in 2020 and 61 in 2021.

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Replying to a query of CPI(M) MP John Brittas, "Whether it is a fact that the number of cases being investigated by NIA has gone up", the Minister shared the data and said the "NIA has registered 277 cases for investigation during the last five years between 2017 to 2021, which do not suggest any definitive pattern".

Rai further said that the NIA was set up under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, at the national level to investigate and prosecute offences affecting the sovereignty, security and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, matters relating to international treaties, etc., specified in the Schedule to Act.

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"Mandate of the Act was expanded in 2019 by the inclusion of offences related to human trafficking, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism and offences under the Explosives Substances Act, 1905, in the Schedule of the Act," said the Minister. (ANI)

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