The NIA Most Wanted is a most wanted list maintained by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA). Individuals are generally only removed from the list if the fugitive is captured, dies, or if the charges against them are dropped.
Contents
History
In May 2011, following the killing of Osama bin Laden, India released a list of the 50 most wanted fugitives it alleged were hiding in Pakistan. The list was prepared in consultation with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the NIA, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and various law enforcement agencies. According to Home Ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia, the CBI had named 40 people and the NIA included 10 suspected terrorists in the list. However, it was later discovered that two of the people on the list submitted by the CBI were actually in India (one in jail, and the other was out on bail), following which the Home Ministry directed the agencies to review the list. India prepared a new list containing 48 names, and handed it over to Pakistan in July 2011. The list contained Interpol red corner notices, details of the crimes committed, aliases, Pakistani passport and identity document numbers of those allegedly hiding in Pakistan. The names on the list are Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Major Sajid Majid, Major Sameer Ali, Major Syed Abdul Rehman alias Pasha, Major Abu Hamza, Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon, Chhota Shakeel, Ayub Memon, Abdul Razzak, the five hijackers of Indian Airlines Flight 814 (Ibrahim Athar, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistri, Shahid Akhtar Sayed and Azhar Yusuf), Maulana Masood Azhar, Pir Syed Salahuddin, Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, Ilyas Kashmiri, Anwar Ahmed Haji Jamal, Mohammed Dosa, Javed Chikna, Salim Abdul Ghazi, Riyaz Khatri, Munaf Halari, Mohammad Salim Mujhahid, Khan Bashir Ahmed, Yakub Yeda Khan, Mohammed Memon, Irfan Chaugule, Ali Moosa, Sagir Ali Shaikh, Aftab Batki, Amir Raza Khan, Azam Cheema, Syed Zabiuddin Jabi, Ibrahim Athar, Azhar Yusuf, Zahur Ibrahim Mistri, Akhtar Sayeed, Mohammed Shakir, Abdul Rauf Asghar, Amanullah Khan, Sufiyan Mufti, Nachan Akmal, Pathan Yaqoob Khan, Bashir, Lakhbir Singh Rode, Paramjit Singh Pamma, Ranjit Singh and Wadhawa Singh Babbar.
Similar lists had been given to Pakistan in 2004, 2007, 2010 and March 2011. However, then Home Minister P. Chidambaram stated in a May 2011 interview with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s Devil's Advocate program, that "they never acted on any list", were "always dismissive" and described the process as a "ritual". He also blamed the CBI for errors in the 2011 list.
On 26 May 2013, DNA reported that NIA had asked every State to send a report every three months on the latest activities and intelligence about the fugitives on its list. A senior police officer told the newspaper that they had to provide "the latest information on the latest locations of these fugitives, whether they are dead or alive and if they attended any religious functions recently". The move was reportedly taken to prevent mistakes in the list, like the ones that had been found in the 2011 list
List
Rewards are offered for information leading to the capture of some, but not all, of the fugitives on the list. NIA does not assign any ranking to fugitives on the list. The list below follows the same order as the NIA website. As of September 2014, there are 54 individuals on the list.
Previously listed
The following list contains the names of individuals who were previously listed on the NIA Most Wanted. Individuals are generally only removed from the list if the fugitive is captured, dies, or if the charges against them are dropped.