NIA teams up with Punjab, Haryana cops against gangs

NIA teams up with Punjab, Haryana cops against gangs

Chandigarh: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday announced establishment of a collective institutionalised mechanism with Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh police for real-time information sharing and coordinated action against gangsters in the northern region.

It was also decided to set up a ‘Joint Listing Committee’ with representative officers from the NIA and the three police forces to list out and map the entire network of the various criminal syndicates active in the northern states and the UT.

These decisions were taken at a high-level interstate coordination meeting held in Panchkula, under the chairmanship of NIA Director General Dinkar Gupta.

This was the second such meeting steered by the NIA DG for tackling the menace of criminal syndicates. It was further decided to hold monthly meetings of all stakeholders to address the issue of organised crime.

Gupta also called for enhanced cooperation and information sharing among the NIA, and police forces of Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana to effectively address the growing threat posed by criminal syndicates, particularly in the northern region.

The NIA, which is investigating three cases against criminal syndicates, shared its findings and observations on the methodology adopted by criminals operating from jails. It emphasised the need for fast-tracking trials against the gangsters as an effective tool to tackle the problem, along with the need for a witness protection plan.

Among others who attended the meeting included Haryana DGP PK Agrawal, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav and Chandigarh DGP Praveer Ranjan.

Decision comes as NIA is probing three cases of organised crime linked to Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh, Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Rinda and US-based Gurpatwant Singh Pannu