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NIA raids multiple locations in Punjab, Haryana over attacks on Indian consulate in San Francisco

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 22 Nov 2023, 08:15 am

As part of its continuing investigations into the attacks on the Consulate General of India, San Francisco,USA, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday raided multiple locations across Punjab and Haryana.

"A total of 14 locations were raided in the two North Indian states by the NIA teams in a bid to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the 19th March, 2023 and 2nd July, 2023 attacks, involving criminal trespass,vandalism, damage to public property and attempts to cause hurt to the Consulate officials and set the Consulate building on fire through acts of arson," NIA said in a statement.

The NIA has been probing the case with the aim to identify and prosecute the attackers and the assailants of the attacks and send a strong message to such anti-Indian elements.

A team of the NIA visited SanFrancisco, USA in August 2023 to investigate the incidents of attacks on the Consulate through violent acts of arson and vandalism leading to fear among the Consulate staff and the community.

"As part of its investigations, NIA has crowd-sourced information to identify and collect information about US-based entities and individuals involved in these violent incidents," the statement said.

The agency said it has already identified certain individuals who were part of the conspiracy behind the repeated attacks.

"These include the attackers and many of their associates, who are both Indian and foreign nationals," the agency said in a statement.

The locations raided by NIA on Wednesday were spread across the districts of Moga, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Mohali and Patiala in Punjab, and Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in Haryana.

The crackdown led to the seizure of digital data containing information related to the accused persons, along with other incriminating documents.

The Consulate General of India in San Francisco was attacked on March 19 by a group of assailants who committed criminal trespass, damaged public property, and attacked officials of the Consulate.

Prior to this attack, on the same day, some attackers attempted to set the Consulate building on fire by sprinkling inflammable substances early in the morning.

Subsequently on July 2 at midnight, a few persons attempted to set the Consulate building on fire.