The National Investigation Agency notched a record 66 convictions and chargesheeted 320 accused in 2025, attached 12 assets linked to absconding terrorists and criminals. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) said a series of milestone achievements marked the year 2025, key among them being an over 92% conviction rate, the extradition of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks accused Tahawwur Rana from the United States, and the arrest of several terrorists and their associates involved in the dastardly Pahalgam and Delhi attacks.
With its charge sheet filed against seven accused, including the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its affiliate The Resistance Front (TRF), the NIA wrapped up the year with “a major success in its investigation” into the Pahalgam attack.
The total arrests made by the NIA across key categories of crimes in the 55 cases registered during the year stood at 276 (67 accused in ‘Jihadi’ cases, 74 in Left-Wing Extremism cases, 37 in Northeast insurgency cases, 28 in cases against pro-Khalistan outfits/elements, 11 in gangster-related cases and 59 in others). The agency notched a record 66 convictions and chargesheeted 320 accused in 2025, attached 12 assets linked to absconding terrorists and criminals.
Deportation of Anmol Bishnoi
The NIA’s other achievement was the deportation of “gangster” Anmol Bishnoi, brother of Lawrence Bishnoi, from the United States. He had been absconding since 2022. The agency took up nine investigations against LWE (Left-Wing Extremism) members and top leadership, and chargesheeted 34 of them, during the year.
Search operations in major terror and organised crime networks led to the arrest of 200 accused persons. “These searches and arrests, which included clampdowns in cases related to designated Khalistani terrorists like Goldy Brar, were part of the NIA’s concerted efforts to dismantle such networks,” said the agency in a statement.
The NIA made substantial progress in cases related to human trafficking networks, particularly those linked to the vulnerable youth being duped by transnational syndicates on the pretext of lucrative opportunities overseas. “The agency also made significant progress in cases of cross-border human trafficking, involving Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals, as well as in cases of Indian youth being forced into cyberslavery in the Golden Triangle region in Laos and Cambodia,” it said.
Other important investigations were against various insurgent groups, such as ULFA-I and NSCN-IM, in the Northeast. Major breakthroughs were made in many cases related to the targeted killings of Praveen Nettaru, Ramalingam, Kerala Professor T.J. Joseph, Ratan Dubey, Sreenivasan, Suhas Shetty, Dinesh Pusu Gawade, and Priyangu Pandey.
A series of convictions were secured in the Pakistan-linked Visakhapatnam Navy espionage case of 2019. The NIA also arrested/chargesheeted several accused in various fake Indian currency notes cases across States.
Technical advancement
The NIA made some major technical and operational advancements aimed at strengthening its investigation and modernising its capabilities. A ‘Lost/Looted Recovered’ Government Weapons Database and an Organised Crime Network Database were developed to improve the anti-terror capabilities not just of itself, but of all the key security and investigative agencies in the country through real-time information sharing.
“In a significant step towards fostering inter-agency collaboration and empowering law enforcement officials to fight the growing challenges posed by cryptocurrency-related criminal activities, the NIA conducted an advanced workshop on cryptocurrency investigations at the start of the year. Infrastructural development and expansion remained an ongoing focus area of the agency’s efforts to augment its capacity in its fight against terror, in line with its commitment to securing the nation against major terrorist and criminal networks,” said the agency.
Published – December 31, 2025 11:26 pm IST
