As many as 278 fugitives wanted in other countries were located in India in the year 2022, according to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) 2022-23 annual report.
The number of such individuals in 2021-22 and 2020-21 was 136 and 84 respectively.
The report said 30 Indian fugitives were located abroad and 24 others were deported in 2022.
The Internal Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) shared 304 reports on “foreign terrorist fighters” with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022, according to the report.
Interpol maintains a database of suspected foreign terrorist fighters. The data, which includes intelligence on the capabilities, means and emerging trends of foreign terrorist fighters, are analysed and shared with member countries.
The reports received by the CBI are forwarded to the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) under the Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for necessary action.
Data on passports
India uploaded data relating to 22,49,822 lost/stolen/revoked Indian passports to the Interpol SLTD (stolen lost travel document) database till December 31, 2022. The report stated that 1,333 cases of use of STLD-recorded Indian passports were reported or detected by agencies in other countries.
Law enforcement officers around the world can check the validity of a travel or identity document in seconds using Interpol’s SLTD database.
In the same year, as many as 114 Letters Rogatory (LRs) were received from various countries requesting assistance in the investigation of criminal matters, the report said. Four other requests under mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) were also received.
“Execution reports in 112 cases were sent to the Ministry of External Affairs/Home Affairs, after receiving the same from Indian investigating agencies, for onward transmission to the law enforcement agencies of the requesting countries. Besides these, 13 LRs/ MLAT requests were otherwise disposed of as closed or withdrawn,” the report added.
Of the 124 LRs sent to other countries by India, seeking assistance in criminal matters, only 38 were executed in 2022.
As on December 31, 2022, 137 LRs/ MLAT requests, including that from previous years, were pending for execution. In all, 538 LRs are pending with other countries, out of which 299 pertain to CBI cases and 239 pertain to cases with the State police and other Central law enforcement agencies.
