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Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi
Under pressure from a number of states, the Union government has decided not to pursue the proposal for setting up a federal investigating agency to deal with offences, which have interstate or nationwide ramifications.
I D Swami, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, informed the Lok Sabha about the government decision on Wednesday.
In a statement laid on the table of the house Swami said that the issue was discussed at the chief minister's conference on internal security, following which the state governments were advised to enact legislation for the control of organised crime on lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act.
"The state governments were also advised to set up special units for monitoring, investigating and pursuing organised criminal gangs and coordinate with counterpart units in the neighbouring states as well as in the central agencies," Swami said.
In response to yet another unstarred question, the other Minister of State for Home Affairs Vidhyasagar Rao informed the Lok Sabha that the government has adopted a 'well-coordinated' and 'multi-pronged' approach to bust ISI bases in India.
He said that the central government has been sensitising the state governments about the threat perception and activities of the ISI in the country.
"Periodic coordination meetings are also held with state governments for sharing the inputs from various quarters as well as for devising strategies to counter such activities," Rao said.
He said that as a result of the coordinated action during the last three months, ten espionage modules have been busted of which three were in Delhi, one in Punjab, four in Rajasthan, one in West Bengal and one in Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the purview of the Maharashtra Control or Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has also been extended to Delhi.
The minister said that the First Information Report in such cases could only be registered with prior approval of an officer not below the rank of additional commissioner of police and the case could only be investigated by an officer also not below the rank of deputy commissioner of police.
The recording of statement of the accused could be made only by an officer not below the rank of deputy Commissioner of police in order to be admissible in court, he disclosed.
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