In a major fillip to India’s fight against terrorism and organised crime, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah virtually inaugurated a unique digital Criminal Case Management System (CCMS), designed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in New Delhi, today. In the virtual event, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah e-inaugurates NIA’s 2 new branch offices in Jammu and Kochi and a residential complex in Raipur. Shri Shah also launches a mobile app ‘Sankalan’ – A compendium of New Criminal Laws by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Sankalan app has been designed for navigating through new criminal laws as a bridge between old and new criminal laws. This app will work as a comprehensive guide for all stakeholders. The app will work in offline mode as well and its availability has been ensured in far-flung areas so that all stakeholders can have access to desired information around the clock. Sankalan app will be available for download on Google Play Store, Apple Store and its desktop version may be downloaded from official websites of MHA and NCRB.

Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the newly developed Criminal Case Management System will enable the NIA personnel to better coordinate in terrorism and organized crime cases, thereby improving justice delivery. The new stand-alone version of CCMS has been developed by NIA as a user-friendly and easy-to-deploy, customizable, browser-based software to help the State Police forces in their investigations and prosecution. The two new Office Complexes in Jammu and Kochi (Kerala), besides the Residential Complex in Raipur (Chhattisgarh), will strengthen the agency’s reach and presence, and provide a safe and secure environment to NIA officers and personnel to operate in the States tackling the menace of terrorism and left wing extremism.

Launching the CCMS, the Union Home Minister urged the State Director Generals of Police to use the new-age software for carrying out effective and expeditious investigations and operations. He added that it will help the State forces organise, integrate and digitalise the data generated during investigations, such as case documents, extracted data, collected evidence, and the charge sheets presented to the court.

It may be recalled that the Home Minister, during the ‘Anti-Terror Conference’ in October 2023, had expressed the desire for the establishment of such a digital platform for law enforcement agencies across the country to enable state police forces and central agencies to undertake structured and synergised investigations. The Home Minister had then emphasized that it would help improve conviction rates in sensitive and complex cases across the country.

The state-of-the-art CCMS software would not only bring standardisation into investigations but also enable easy and streamlined compilation of terror-related data across the country. The launch of the software comes at a time when India is facing increasing threats from various terrorist organisations, new challenges in the form of extensive use of cyber-space, dark-web, drones, crowd-funding, use of crypto-currencies, encrypted communication platforms, besides use of new technologies for terrorist financing, movement of arms and other terror support activities. NIA, which has been aggressively tackling such threats, has undergone major empowerment and expansion over the years to enhance its capacities and competencies. The Home Minister said that CCMS would further foster stronger cooperation between the central and state agencies, including the Anti-Terror Squads of the State Police.

Shri Amit Shah pointed out that the newly developed system will also boost supervision by providing clear frameworks for assessment and guidance by both the senior police officers and the prosecutors. He added it will assist NIA and the State Police forces’ preparedness to implement the newly legislated post-colonial era Criminal laws in the form of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakhsya Sanhita.

Augmentation of the agency’s Physical Infrastructure, including new Branch and Residential Complexes and hiring of new office spaces are key to strengthening of the organisation. The Jammu, Kochi and Raipur NIA Branch offices, inaugurated today, had been functioning from rented premises since their sanction by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2016, 2012 and 2016, respectively. The Raipur Branch had moved into its own building in 2022 but construction of the associated residential complex has been completed now. These modern buildings will provide the NIA personnel with a secure and conducive environment for executing their work in a better way.

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RK / VV / RR / PS