Two Jharkhand cadre IPS officers who are National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers -Ashish Batra and Jaya Roy -were dealing with the high profile case Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

A day after he was brought from the USA, both these IPS officers, who were leading the process of extradition process of Tahawwur Hussain Rana,were learnt to be involved his interrogation.

In fact, Ashish Batra, a 1997-batch IPS officer from the Jharkhand cadre, is currently serving as the Inspector General (IG) in the NIA. 

He was deputed to the agency in 2019 for a five-year term, which has been extended by two years until September 15, 2024, by the ministry of home affairs. 

Before joining the NIA, Batra was the IG of Jharkhand Jaguar, an anti-insurgency unit, starting January 20, 2018. He has also served as the spokesperson for the Jharkhand Police and held additional duties as IG Abhiyan.

Alongside,Jaya Roy, a 2011-batch IPS officer from the Jharkhand cadre, currently serves as Deputy Director General in the NIA. She was deputed to the agency in 2019 as superintendent of police for a four-year term, which has since been extended. Roy is best known for leading the team that cracked down on cybercriminals in Jamtara, a case that has inspired a major web series.

After his arrival at the airport in Delhi, Rana was arrested and produced before the NIA special court on Friday when the court sent him to to 18-day NIA custody.

Soon,he was brought from Patiala House courts complex to the NIA headquarters in a heavily-secured motorcade comprising Delhi Police's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and other security personnel.

Rana will be kept in a highly secured cell inside the anti-terror agency NIA’s head office at CGO complex in New Delhi, report quoting officials said.

Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days. During this period NIA IG Ashish Batra and its DIG Jaya Roy will monitor Rana’s interrogation inside the CCTV monitored room where he was put up at NIA’s highly fortified headquarters office in the national capital.

During Rana’s interrogations these Jharkhand cadre IPS officers will be directly lead the process of investigation and Roy is learnt to be questioning him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks, in which a total of 166 persons were killed and over 238 injured.