17 Feb : The Government has sanctioned 83 posts for the newly constituted National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has been formed to look into terror-related cases across the country.
Three officers — Swayam Prakash Pani, Sajid Farid Shapoo and another one from Customs and Excise department — had been cleared to join the NIA, official sources said in New Delhi on Tuesday.While Shapoo, a 1998 batch IPS officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre, has had a long stint in tackling naxalism in the state, Pani, a 2000 batch IPS officer from Jammu and Kashmir, has been credited with arrest of many terrorists during the hey days of militancy.
The development comes in the wake of government’s allocation to the NIA Rs 10 crore for 2009-10, which was announced by stand-in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also External Affairs Minister, when he presented the interim budget in the Lok Sabha on Monday.