The National Investigation Agency raided human rights lawyer Ansar Indori’s house in Rajasthan on February 18, days after he appeared in a case challenging a first information report filed by the agency.
The raid was related to a Popular Front of India (PFI) case the agency had filed last year, NIA sources said.
Indori’s Kota premises were among the seven locations the agency raided in Rajasthan.
The NIA reached Indori’s Kota house at around 5 am Saturday, and its raid continued for nearly three hours.
From Indori’s house, several books on human rights were taken by NIA officials.
Among books seized are Bhopal-based writer LS. Hardenia’s work on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), two human rights reports on Kashmir, a report titled “Zindabad Murdabad Ke Bich Fansi Deshbhakti” by the rights group Rihai Manch, and a report by the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations, according to The Wire.
The NIA also took the rights lawyer who has led many a legal battle against human rights violations, to a local police station for interrogation, but released him in an hour.
“I believe the raid is to harass me after I challenged their FIR. It is an attempt to threaten or falsely implicate me given my fight for human rights,” Indori told the news website.
Earlier, Indori was named in UAPA FIR by Tripura Police after he visited Tripura with a fact-finding team to probe atrocities against Muslims.
“The desperate attempt to punish and frame human rights activists and lawyers in terror cases must stop. Advocate Ansar Indori was part of the legal team which challenged FIR registered by NIA before the Rajasthan High Court. Today his house was raided by NIA. Pure witch-hunt,” tweeted human rights lawyer Kawalpreet Kaur.
