NIA with permanant office complex in Kochi; construction completed; may ​​become South Indian headquarters

KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA)'s own building with a five-storey main office and a six-storey quarters complex is about to be inaugurated at Kalamassery. Modern facilities are being prepared here to make it the South Indian headquarters of the NIA. The opening date has not been decided.

The one in Kochi is NIA's first own building outside Delhi. NIA is currently functioning in a rented building at Kadavanthra. It was decided to build a permanent building in Kochi due to increasing cases of terrorism in South India. The construction started in 2022 on the three-acre land provided by the government in 2018 between HMT and Govt Medical College.

The Kochi unit headed by SP is under the DIG office in Hyderabad. Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry regions come under this unit. NIA sources indicated that once its own office starts functioning, the number of officers will be increased and it will be raised as a unit headed by the DIG.

Fourth office

1. The NIA was formed under the Union Home Department in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
2. After Delhi, Guwahati and Hyderabad, the fourth office was opened in Kochi in 2011
3. The first case registered was the Mancheri counterfeiting case in 2013
4. The last case registered was the Maoist firing on police at Kasaragod Periya Chapparam

Building cost: 50 crores

Facilities

Main office building, six-storey residential complex, cyber cell, forensic lab, interrogation rooms, lockups, library