Red-faced MHA orders revamp
Rushing into damage control mode after major goof-ups in India’s list of “50 most wanted” fugitives handed over to Pakistan, an embarrassed Union home ministry said Friday the entire list was being reviewed and steps would be taken to ensure that no such mistake occurred in future.
The CBI, which has been held responsible for a series of goof-ups in the past two days, said it will update its list of “wanted” persons every 24 hours. The home ministry has sent advisories to all state governments and investigative agencies asking them to update their lists of “wanted” accused every three months and inform the Centre.
Home ministry secretary (internal security) U.K. Bansal said there was no plan to recall the list from Pakistan. Government sources said home secretary G.K. Pillai was likely to write soon to his Pakistani counterpart to inform him that two of those named in the list given earlier were in India. The names of Wazhur Kamar Khan, who is living in Thane, and Feroz Abdul Khan, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai blast case lodged in a Mumbai jail, had been included in the list given to Pakistan during the home secretary-level talks in March this year. Adding further embarassment, the CBI’s list of wanted persons posted on its website was also found to be inaccurate and has been withdrawn by the agency.
Pakistan, meanwhile, has also given India a list of 30-40 names of “most wanted” fugitives believed to be hiding here, consisting of mostly suspected RAW agents working for India’s external intelligence agency. Pakistan alleged that the suspected RAW agents were involved in terror attacks and other clandestine operations in that country. The Pakistani list also includes the names of criminals and others smuggling drugs and printing fake Pakistani currency. “We will study their list. Some lists are exchanged every time, but both countries have little information on the names in each others’ lists,” a senior official said.
India’s “50 most wanted” list was finalised after vetting by the top brass of agencies like the CBI, IB, NIA and senior home ministry officials. Accepting that Feroz Rashid Khan incident came as a “lesson” for the CBI, sources said a report had been sought on the overhaul of the agency’s Interpol division within a week.
Senior CBI officials, meanwhile, blamed state police forces for laxity. The agency has around 550 cases of wanted criminals against whom “red corner” notices have been issued. “We do not get updates from state police units,” a senior CBI official said, adding that the Manipur police had not informed it about the arrest of Rajkumar Megen, chief of the UNLF, a Manipur-based militant outfit.
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