NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued directions to all the law enforcement agencies to work out an elaborate plan to break the network of gangster-terrorists operating from prisons across the country.
Officials added that they have been asked to adopt an “out-of-the-box strategy” to disrupt local nodes of such a nexus.
Following the directions, they said, a plan is being worked out to relocate such inmates, who continue to run criminal or terror-linked networks from within jails, aimed at severing their existing communication and influence chains inside prisons.
As per the plan, first, the law enforcement and intelligence agencies are tasked to jointly identify high-risk inmates in coordination with the state police, the officials said, adding: “Once identified, such elements will be shifted to jails located in States or regions where they have no connections or linkages.”
The aim is to stop them from rebuilding or expanding their influence among fellow prisoners.
The plan is being closely monitored and supervised by senior functionaries of the MHA. According to the officials, one officer each from the intelligence and central probe agencies will be designated as nodal entities to coordinate the execution of the plan.
In the security circles, it is believed that the move would help them break entrenched networks that often operate from prisons, paving the way for coordination between criminal gangs and terror outfits across States.
According to sources, the plan’s primary focus is jails in north India, particularly situated in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
It is to be noted that last month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) detained several suspects during a massive multi-state crackdown on the terrorist-gangster-drug smuggler nexus, connected with “listed terrorist” Arsh Dalla and many dreaded gangsters.
A total of 53 locations were raided during the day-long operation in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Chandigarh.
The NIA in a statement had then said, “The investigations have revealed that the conspiracies under its probe were being hatched in prisons of different states and were being executed by an organised network of operatives based abroad. Notable among such crimes include the sensational killing of Maharashtra builder Sanjay Biyani, mining trader Mehal Singh and international Kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia in Punjab last year.”