Gujarat police complete verification of 31,834 people booked for ‘anti-national’ activities

A Statewide audit of people once booked for ‘anti-national’ activities has given Gujarat police a clear picture of how many of them remain within reach of law enforcement. The verification drive, covering three decades of cases, has now been completed, Director General of Police Vikas Sahay said on Monday (November 24, 2025).

Police records showed 31,834 people had been booked over the last 30 years under laws dealing with terrorism, arms, narcotics, explosives, petroleum products and fake currency. In the verification that followed, 11,880 were found to be living at the addresses listed in the case files, while 2,326 had died, Mr .Sahay said

Those who could not be located will be the focus of a fresh round of checks. “We will move to a second phase for the ones who were not found. An SOP will be prepared and all units will be instructed to trace their present whereabouts and activities,” he said.

Mr. Sahay initiated the verification on November 17, shortly after the Gujarat ATS arrested three persons for allegedly plotting a terror attack, a development linked to a subsequent counter-terror operation in Faridabad and a blast near Delhi’s Red Fort on November 10. These incidents prompted a direction to all police stations to update their lists of individuals with a past record of “anti-national” activity.

“During our exercise, we created a database of 31,834 persons who were booked for serious crimes related to the Arms Act, NDPS Act, possession of explosives and petroleum, fake Indian currency related cases and terrorism related cases in the last 30 years. A thorough check was conducted at the local police station level. Of these, 11,880 were found present during this verification,” said Mr. Sahay.

Unit heads were then asked to conduct a detailed review of each person’s current status. Local police interviewed the 11,880 people who were traced and began preparing dossiers on them within the next 100 hours. The exercise also revealed that some on the list now reside outside Gujarat.