TOPIC: NIA Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.
- It was established in 2008, in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, with the enactment of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008.
- At present, it functions as the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency in India.
- It is a federal agency and is empowered to combat terror related crimes across states without the need for any special permission from the states. It can carry out investigation and prosecution of offenses specified in the NIA Act.
- The union government can order NIA to take over investigation of any offense specified in the Schedule of the Act, anywhere in India.
- A state government may also request the union government to hand over the investigation of a scheduled offense to the NIA.
- Its officers are drawn from the IPS and the IRS.
- They have all powers, privileges and liabilities of the police officers during the investigation of any offense.
