CBI additional director Y.C. Modi will be the new chief of the NIA—the federal anti-terrorism agency of the country. Modi has been entrusted with the post at a time when the agency is saddled with the task of concluding trials in crucial cases of terror blasts at Mecca Masjid, Samjhauta Express, Malegaon (2006) and Malegaon (2008), which form a string of cases where Hindu extremists have been named as accused.
He will take charge on October 30, replacing Sharad Kumar, a 1979 batch Haryana cadre officer who remained at the helm of the agency for more than four years.
Kumar was a UPA appointee, but following his retirement in October, 2015, the NDA government gave him two extensions for one year each, a rarity in bureaucratic circles.
Modi will hold the post of NIA DG till his superannuation on May 31, 2021, or until further orders are received.
Modi, who is a 1984-batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was part of the Supreme Court appointed special investigation team that probed nine major cases related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. The then Gujarat chief Narendra Modi had been given a clean chit by the SIT in the Gulbarg Society massacre case in which 69 people, including former member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, was killed in a residential apartment during the 2002 riots.
As the next chief of the NIA , Modi will also oversee the probe into the funding of Hurriyat leaders from across the border—a matter that is of utmost importance to the Union government which is struggling to bring the Valley back to normalcy after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July last year.
The general consensus in the government is that the NIA probe against Hurriyat leaders has broken the back of separatists in the Valley and also given the government a breather, bringing down incidents of stone pelting and violence. But if the NIA does not conclude the probe in a time-bound manner and is unable to file a chargesheet within stipulated time, such efforts will come to naught.
Modi's task immediately becomes tough as his move on filing formal charges against the Hurriyat leaders will be closely watched by all.
If this does not happen, it will provide another handle to anti-India forces in the Valley to drum up support against the government.
