NIA official shot dead in presence of wife, kids

NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: An officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who was attacked while coming back from a wedding, was shot more than two dozen times, investigators have said. Tanzil Ahmed was with his wife and two children when the attack took place late on Saturday in Bijnor news Moradabad, 125 kilometres from the national capital. His body had 26 holes, NIA sources said.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."The manner in which the officer was ambushed and the count of bullets fired suggests that the assailants wanted to make sure that Tanzil does not survive the attack," said a senior STF official associated with the probe. "Though we are yet to establish the number of bullet wounds, the officer had suffered multiple bullet wounds," he said, adding that the miscreants had used the prohibited 9 mm bore firearm.While Tanzil was rushed to a medical facility in Moradabad where he was pronounced dead, his wife was rushed to a hospital in Noida where her condition is said to be critical. Teams from NIA and UP's Special Task Force (STF) and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) have reached the spot and are investigating the case.Unidentified gunmen on two motorycles tried to intercept Tanzil's car and opened indiscriminate fire at him from a close range. His two children - aged 8 and 10 years - had a narrow escape. They were in the back seat of the Wagon-R when it was attacked and watched the entire incident from there, police said. The incident took place near his residence in Sahaspur locality under Sheohara police station. Incharge of the Sheohara police station Inspector Rajkumar said Tanzil's family has denied that he had any personal rivalry.NIA inspector general Sanjeev Kumar said that Tanzil was a dedicated and competent officer and joined the NIA in 2009. He was an assistant commandant with the Border Security Force (BSF) and was with the NIA on deputation."Investigations are on. Right now the UP Police, UP ATS, NIA, the DIG of NIA from Lucknow and his team all of them are there on the spot," Kumar said.Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters in Lucknow that he had been apprised of the incident. "Whatever necessary is being done. We are talking (to NIA officials)," Singh said.There were reports that Tanzil was nominated as the liaison officer for the recent visit of Pakistan's Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which had recently visited India to probe the Pathankot terror attack. There were unconfirmed reports that Tanzil was also associated with Pathankot attack probe and had played an important role in investigations into the Bijnor blast being presently probed by the NIA.(With inputs from agencies)