Even as the Intelligence Bureau is working overtime to get the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) functional by March 1, highly-placed government sources said that once fully operational, the NCTC will eventually evolve as an “umbrella organisation” for all investigations related to cases of terror and organised crime in the country.
What in effect this means is that the NCTC will be fully empowered to not only unilaterally join an ongoing investigation being conducted by any agency at the Central or state-level but also seek any details related to the investigations including the “case diaries, interrogation reports of the accused persons and even case files”.
Thus, importantly, the role of the NCTC will not just be limited to collecting and analysing counter-terrorism information and data but also play a key role in the investigations.
This aspect of the terrorism centre is still not included in the notification issued by the government a few days ago as the security establishment first wants the outfit to come into existence and stabilise its core functioning. Eventually, a separate investigative wing, headed by a senior official, will be carved out within the NCTC. This newspaper was the first to report the broad parameters of the NCTC’s functioning based on a CCS note.
Further, the role of the NCTC will not just be limited to seeking information from the state police or any other agency. On basis of its own probe and the inputs provided by the concerned agency the NCTC outfit will then guide them on what line of investigation it can take.
Officials in New Delhi’s security establishment are hopeful that the state police will see reason in this exercise rather than an attempt to interfere in their domain by an external agency.