NIA officer Mohammed Tanzil Ahmed shot dead, agency says attack was ‘planned’

KARAN

Prime VIP
Inspector General (Bareilly Zone) Vijay Singh Meena told The Indian Express: “Nothing can be ruled out. We are probing all angles, including professional rivalry.” He said the UP police, ATS and STF were working with the NIA. “Borders of the state have been sealed and checking is on in nearby villages,” he said. Ahmed’s brother Ragib Masood, in a complaint to police, said: “We were returning from the wedding of my niece and had dropped our relatives home. My wife and I were a Wagon R, while my brother and his family were in another Wagon R. Suddenly, two men on a motorcycle intercepted my brother’s car which was behind us. One of the men started firing.” Ahmed was taken to Cosmos Hospital in Bijnor where he was declared dead while his wife was shifted to Fortis Hospital in Noida. In a statement on her condition, the hospital said: “The patient has been brought in a critical condition. Our doctors are providing the best medical treatment. As a matter of patient confidentiality, we cannot comment any further.”

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According to NIA sources, Ahmed had been with NIA since its inception in 2009. “Over the past six years, he was involved in every big case with the agency,” an NIA officer said. An “excellent intelligence hand”, Ahmed first joined NIA’s intelligence and operations and later shifted to its investigations. He was working in the Terror Funding and Fake Currency Cell. “He had joined the cell a year ago and was very meticulous in his work. He never shied away from operations. He was working on cases related to FICN smuggling in Malda, West Bengal,” an officer from the cell said. According to sources, Ahmed had good command over Urdu and Persian. “He often generated credible human intelligence that led to successful operations,” said an NIA officer who worked with him in cases related to the Indian Mujahideen. The officer said Ahmed was instrumental in the arrest of alleged IM operative Danish Riyaz. “It was Ahmed who traced the mobile phone through which Yasin Bhatkal, then hiding in Nepal, spoke to his wife Zahida. The phone was bought by Yasin’s then deputy, Tehsin Akhtar, from Rajasthan and given to Zahida. It was this phone that was tapped by intelligence agencies, revealing his location in Nepal,” an NIA officer said. Sources said Ahmed also played a role in busting an alleged ISIS module which led to the arrest of several suspects, including one from Welcome area in North East Delhi. He was instrumental in arrests made in the Burdwan blast case of October 2014. “He engineered many surrenders in the case by motivating the accused through his contacts to cooperate with the agency,” an officer said. There is speculation within the agency about Ahmed being on the radar of IM. “About a year and half ago, I heard him talk of a threat he received, purportedly from the Indian Mujahideen. But I do not remember the details. It is common for NIA officers to receive threat letters,” another NIA officer said.
 

Miss Alone

Prime VIP
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Tanzil Ahmed, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer was killed on Saturday night by unknown assailants when he was returning with his family from a wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district. The incident occurred near Ahmad’s residence in Sahaspur area. According to the reports, the assailants shot 21 bullets into him. Tanzil’s wife Farzana has told the investigators that it was a planned attack and that the shooters were professionals and used automatic weapons. Farzana was also injured in the attack; gunmen pumped four bullets into her.

45-year-old Ahmed was a respected figure among his friends and colleagues.Tanzil Ahmed was earlier posted with BSF, Ahmed was a part of NIA since the time it was formed in 2009. He always identified himself as a common man. But according to his colleagues, he was a brilliant man and a dedicated officer of the nation. He was an integral part of the investigation team in many terror cases, especially related to the banned Indian Mujahideen terror outfit. Recently he had a part of the team probing the terrorist attacks in Pathankot.

The NIA chief has vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice and he had shared his anguish over the loss of one of their best officers.​
 
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