The National Investigation Agency (NIA), in collaboration with the Police forces of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, on Friday announced the establishment of a collective institutionalised mechanism for real-time as well as regular information sharing and coordinated action & operations against the gangster eco-system in the northern region.
They also decided to set up a ‘Joint Listing Committee’, with representative officers from the NIA and the three Police forces, to list out and map the entire network of the various criminal syndicates active in the northern states and UT. It was further decided to hold monthly meetings of all the stakeholders to address the issue of organised crimes and criminals in these areas.
The decisions were taken at a high-level Inter-State coordination meeting held in Panchkula, under the chairmanship of NIA Director General, Dinkar Gupta. The meeting discussed the activities of leaders and members of organized criminal syndicates/groups operating in the northern states, and also the ongoing investigations in the various criminal cases connected with them.
This was the second such meeting steered by the NIA DG for tackling the menace of organized criminal terror syndicates. The DG had initiated these meetings to collectively deal with such syndicates through sharing of findings and inputs among the various police agencies and forces.
Underscoring the need for collaborative action in combating organised crime, Gupta called for enhanced cooperation and information sharing among the NIA, Punjab Police, Chandigarh Police, and Haryana Police to effectively address the growing threat posed by these criminal syndicates, particularly in the northern region.
NIA , which is investigating three such cases against criminal terror syndicates, shared its findings and observations on the methodology adopted by the syndicates operating from jails. It emphasised the need for fast-tracking of trials against these gangsters as an effective tool to tackle the problem, along with the need for a witness protection plan.
Besides Gupta, others who attended the meeting included P.K. Agrawal, DGP Haryana; Gaurav Yadav, DGP Punjab and Praveer Ranjan, DGP Chandigarh. Special DGP (Internal security) Punjab R.N. Dhoke, ADGP CID Haryana Alok Mittal, ADGP Law and Order Haryana Mamta Singh, IG NIA Vijay Sakhare, IGP (Internal security) Punjab Nilabh Kishore, IGP Chandigarh Raj Kumar Singh, amongst other officers, were also present.
Haryana DGP P.K. Agrawal underlined the urgency of taking swift and decisive action to dismantle the networks of these criminal syndicates, disrupt their activities, and ensure justice. He reassured the participants that the Haryana Police was fully committed to supporting and actively participating in the coordinated efforts to combat organized crime. DGP Punjab Gaurav Yadav emphasized that international liaison and cooperation with LEAs in foreign countries is essential to extradite and deport active leaders and members based abroad in various countries.
DGP Chandigarh Praveer Ranjan highlighted close inter-State coordination and joint operations between Police forces of affected States as the Criminal Syndicates were operating all over including Chandigarh.
Interventions required at both the structural level, as well as the operational level to dismantle the terror syndicate’s ecosystem, were discussed threadbare, and it was decided to formulate an institutionalized mechanism for timely sharing of actionable inputs with all the stakeholders.
Representatives from various agencies presented their findings and insights into the ongoing investigations during the meeting. Officials from the NIA, Haryana Police, Punjab Police, and Chandigarh Police made presentations and shared information regarding the operations, modus operandi, and key individuals associated with these criminal syndicates. Following the presentations, a detailed and constructive discussion took place among senior officers from all participating agencies. The focus of the discussion revolved around devising strategies to disrupt the activities of organized criminal syndicates, strengthen intelligence-sharing mechanisms, and coordinate efforts to apprehend the individuals involved in these unlawful activities.