CBI to review its wanted list

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will overhaul its Interpol division that was at the heart of the string of goof-ups in the most wanted list of terrorists handed over to Pakistan and the red corner notices.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will overhaul its Interpol division that was at the heart of the string of goof-ups in the most wanted list of terrorists handed over to Pakistan and the red corner notices.

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The decision to revamp the division and the system of updating its record of red corner notices comes after the Home Ministry asked all states and investigating agencies to go through the list of wanted terrorists and criminals maintained by the CBI and indicate if there were any more bloopers.

The home ministry has also advised states and investigating agencies to conduct a quarterly exercise of reviewing the list and update the CBI’s Interpol division about arrest or death of the fugitives.

Two men named in the list of 50 terrorists suspected to be hiding in Pakistan, Wazhul Kamar Khan and Feroz Rashid Khan, had turned up in Maharashtra this week.

Wazhul had been arrested in May last year and released on bail;, Feroz was arrested in February 2010 and was behind bars.

There were many other similar goof-ups in the CBI’s list of wanted terrorists too, prompting the agency to take the entire list off its website last night to re-verify the names.

One of them was Rajkumar Meghen, the chief of the Manipuri militant outfit United National Liberation Front, who remained a fugitive in the CBI list though he was caught by the National Investigation Agency in October 2010.

“It has been a learning experience for us,” a senior CBI official said. One lesson was not to treat the Interpol wing as a dumping ground. Another was to study internal mechanisms to update red corner notices and plug loopholes. But the CBI was not the only one at fault.

Government sources said the list of 50 terrorists had gone through all the motions that would construe due diligence. “It was examined by the Multi-Agency Centre (that has representatives from all security agencies) and was discussed threadbare at three meetings,” a senior official said.

Blooper reels

Two men named in the list of 50 terrorists suspected to be hiding in Pakistan turned up in Maharashtra this week

There were many such goof-ups in the CBI's list of wanted terrorists, prompting the agency to take the list off its website

But the CBI was not the only one at fault. Government sources said the list had gone through all the motions that would construe due diligence.