Gandhinagar, Sep 25 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has renewed its collaboration with the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar for another five years to strengthen cyber forensics and digital investigation capabilities to tackle financial crimes involving digital evidence.
The renewed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) builds on the partnership established in 2021, under which NFSU helped the ED augment its digital forensic capabilities by establishing and maintaining Digital Forensic Cyber Labs in different regions.
After the earlier five-year agreement ends, the new MoA will remain in effect for another five years and expand the scope of technical cooperation between the two institutions.
Under the renewed agreement, NFSU will provide consultancy services to the ED to establish and upgrade Cyber Forensic Laboratories at various locations across the country.
The support will cover infrastructure development, advanced forensic tools, capacity building, training, and technical assistance in digital forensics, cybercrime investigation, and related areas.
NFSU has been working with the Central and state governments on projects and research in forensic and allied sciences.
Its areas of specialised expertise include digital forensics, malware analysis, network forensics, and cryptocurrency and blockchain tracing, which are increasingly relevant to investigations involving digital financial transactions and other forms of technology-enabled financial crime.
The university’s specialised short- and long-term training programmes will also continue to support ED officers’ professional development.
The programmes aim to familiarise investigators with the latest forensic methodologies, drawing on NFSU’s academic and research capabilities.
The renewed partnership comes as financial crime investigations increasingly involve digital devices, electronic records, online transactions and other technology-based evidence.
It is intended to strengthen the ED’s technical and investigative capabilities in cases involving digital and cyber elements.
The collaboration will support the ED in carrying out its responsibilities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), 2018.
The two institutions will continue working towards developing cyber forensic infrastructure and specialised expertise for financial crime investigations, with the renewed agreement extending the cooperation initiated through their 2021 MoA.
–IANS
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