Extraditions, Interpol notice among key themes at CBI’s strategy meet

NEw new delhi: The exchange Bureau of investigating (CBI) testament organise a first-of-its-kind “strategy group discussion” next week where top officials from various central and state agencies will brainstorm on a host of issues, including ways to increase Interpol red notices against fugitives, coordinate efforts to track them on foreign soil and multiply the extradition numbers, which are currently abysmal, according to highly placed government officials.Senior brass of CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax department, Customs, Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), police of states and Union territories, ministry of home affairs (MHA) and ministry of external affairs (MEA) will deliberate if dedicated teams under different sub-heads could be created for locating and extraditing different kinds of fugitives, the officials said, requesting anonymity.The conference, being held on October 16-17 at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi, will be inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah and will likely see foreign secretary Vikram Misri and home secretary Govind Mohan in attendance. The police liaison officers (PLOs) of international agencies based in India will also be invited for the conference, officials said.“Union home minister Amit Shah first emphasised in July the need to recalibrate India’s approach towards bringing back fugitives from foreign countries, which requires more coordinated efforts from all the stakeholders and better international cooperation. In that direction, CBI is organising this first-of-its-kind strategy conference, where all agencies will discuss ways to multiply the extraditions, develop a joint approach to locate fugitives and use Interpol tools like red notice through proper channels,” a senior official said.The conference will feature eight sessions, of which two will be dedicated to extradition: sending foolproof requests, follow-up with prosecution in respective countries, sending timely replies and informal interaction with overseas agencies.Government data shows that out of 178 extradition requests sent by India to various countries between 2019 and 2024, only 23 fugitives could be brought back. To be sure, a total of 134 fugitives have actually returned in the last five years but a large number have come through the deportation route, which is a more informal process relying on diplomatic ties. This year alone, nearly 30 people have been brought this year through deportation or extradition. India has an extradition treaty with 48 countries.“The number is still very low. A large number of white-collar criminals like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi; high-profile gangsters like Goldy Brar, Happy Passia, and drug smugglers based abroad have eluded the extraditions so far,” a second official said. “We will discuss the creation of dedicated teams for different categories of fugitives — terrorists, gangsters, drug smugglers and economic offenders — for a focused approach to coordinate with agencies in respective countries and send foolproof requests in consultation with CBI and MEA.”The MEA plays an important role in extraditions. “The conference will highlight the need for MEA to be more proactive while handling extraditions,” the second official added.One of the sessions will be on how states/UT police can use CBI’s Bharatpol platform to publish a large number of Interpol red notices, which will help restrict fugitives’ movement in their country of hiding.“Currently, we send around 200 requests to Interpol every year for issuing red notices while a smaller country like South Korea sends approximately 10 times this number. The states/UTs need to be encouraged to use the international cooperation route with the help of CBI,” said the first official.The conference will also discuss initiating “trial in absentia” for those fugitives whose extraditions are likely to take years. The trial in absentia — a criminal trial conducted without the presence of the accused person in court — was introduced for the first time in Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).