The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said that it carried out raids at 14 locations in Punjab and Haryana in connection with its probe into the attacks on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco earlier this year.
NIA spokespersonsaid that the raids were carried out at locations across the districts of Moga, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Mohali and Patiala in Punjab and Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in Haryana.
“These places located in north India were raided to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the attacks on March 19 and July 2, involving criminal trespass, vandalism, damage to public property and attempts to cause hurt to the consulate officials and set the building on fire through acts of arson,” the spokesperson said in a release.
NIA spokesperson added that digital data containing information related to the accused persons, along with other incriminating documents, was seized during the raid.
The NIA is probing a case it had registered following an attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco during the intervening night of March 18 and 19 when “some pro-Khalistani entities” allegedly trespassed into the consulate and tried to burn it down. On July 2, a few persons had again attempted to set the Consulate building on fire.
“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,” the spokesperson said.
A team of the NIA had visited San Francisco, USA in August to investigate the incidents of attacks on the consulate. “As part of its investigation, the NIA has crowd-sourced information to identify and collect information about US-based entities and individuals involved in these violent incidents,” the spokesperson said.
