Concerned with the established terrorist links with the State after the Patna blasts on October 27, Jharkhand Police have come out with a stopgap arrangement and formed an Anti-Terrorist Cell to coordinate and deal with terrorist related inputs till it gets an Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) on the lines of Mumbai police.
The five-member committee will be headed by Inspector General (Organised Crime) Sampat Meena.
“As of now an anti-terrorist cell has been formed, drawing personnel from the Crime Investigation Bureau, Special Branch and the Ranchi Police, which will co-ordinate and share terrorism related information with each other and act accordingly,” said ADG (Modernisation and law & Order) SN Pradhan.
According to Pradhan, the committee will help in coordinating the inputs gathered by them so that action could be taken in time. “The committee will primarily verify the inputs provided by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and also do the required follow up investigation,” he added. Till now the NIA is going here and there, he added.
Sampat Meena, the nodal officer of the cell heading the committee, said that the arrangement has been done till the ATS is formed in the State. “The five-member committee will comprise one SP, one DSP and two sub-inspector level officers,” said Meena.
The cell basically is being formed to coordinate and share intelligence inputs of terrorist related information, a temporary arrangement, till the ATS is formed in the state, she added. To start with, the ATC will prepare a database of those who are on the radar.
Meena has already been in touch with the NIA team in Jharkhand acting as machinery they want to reach out to for an inquiry or arrest. “We are anyway, successfully coordinating with the NIA which is in the State probing Patna blasts”,
she added.
“But the new cell under the wing against Organised Crime (OC) is expected to add to operational teeth,” said a police official. The Special Branch of Jharkhand police already have a cell that looks into terrorist activities. But it is only involved in collection and analysis of data. There is no operational angle to the work of the Special Branch.
Ranchi SSP Saket Kumar Singh also said that the cell will help in coordinating the much needed inputs from different agencies of the state Police. “This cell will basically establish a co-ordination among the three wings of police so that proper and swift passage of information is ensured to the investigating agencies,” said Singh. The cell has been formed to add more teeth to the investing agencies, he added.
Jharkhand police, demanding adequate infrastructure from the Centre to deal with any untoward
incident on October 29, had asked the Centre for anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and set up an office of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the State.