Under the direction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Delhi Police Commissioner, Rakesh Asthana has undertaken the task to restructure the Special Cell of Delhi Police to make it more accountable and effective. New divisions have been established along the lines of global intelligence organisations, with separate desks monitoring the country’s and capital’s security as well as counter-terror and cyber operations, reports TOI.
The Delhi Police Commissioner has developed numerous divisions to deal with specific aspects and issues affecting the city’s public order in order to combat the growing threat of Pakistan-backed terrorism and other associated crimes such as drug trafficking and other organised crimes.
Total Revamp – police commissioner Rakesh Asthana has restructured capital’s anti-terror unit with new verticals on lines of global intel agencies.. Separate desks tracking different aspects of national & capital security, counter-terror and cyber ops.https://t.co/3kXQprmO4U pic.twitter.com/d5JL6w7Ui3
— Raj Shekhar Jha (@rajshekharTOI) October 23, 2021
Following are the news desks that have been introduced in Delhi police’s anti-terror unit:
Jihadi terror desk
This squad, which will be headed by DCP Pramod Kushwaha, will be on the lookout for international terror groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS. It would keep a careful eye on terror groups located in Pakistan, POK, and Kashmir, as well as ISI-sponsored individuals and modules working in India.
Khalistani terror desk
A separate desk has been created to track Khalistani terrorism. This desk would be overseen by DCP Sanjeev Yadav. This force has been tasked with pursuing Khalistani terrorist organisations that pose a threat to India’s security. They will be responsible for taking action against Khalistani outfits both in Indian and abroad and also track pro-Khalistan modules linked with the smuggling of ammunition, explosives and fake Indian currency notes into India.
The OT unit will additionally handle things like city suspect surveillance and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, a report by TOI quoted a source as saying.
Narco-terror and organised crime (NTOC) desk
A narco-terror and organised crime (NTOC) vertical has been created and will have two units headed by a DCP each. This division would investigate the financial aspect of narco syndicates and their networks. It would act as a coordinating entity between various narcotics and drug law enforcement agencies within the country.
Intelligence fusion and strategic operations (IFSO) unit
An intelligence fusion and strategic operations (IFSO) unit has been created to probe matters of national and economic security apart from cybercrime and issues affecting the city’s public order. IFSO vertical will be headed by DCP K P S Malhotra.
IFSO will replace the operations of erstwhile cyber crime and cyPAD units as well. This team will be in charge of monitoring Dark Web activity, using data analytics to provide actionable inputs and operations, and conducting investigations into organised and cyber crime.
To create actionable inputs, this unit will collaborate with authorities such as the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU), the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), and Customs.
The IFSO has also been tasked with preventing the inciting and conduct of any cognizable offence in which offenders/criminals use cyberspace. It can also take up investigation of district units on instructions from the police headquarters.
Two other units, counter-insurgency (CI) and operations and intelligence (OT), will work on enhancing technical capabilities and handle real-time dissemination of intelligence from multiple agencies, respectively.
The commissioner had begun the restructuring process in September this year when as many as 79 police station heads were posted in special cells.
Speaking about the development, Asthana said: “Terrorism and organised crime, in their various manifestations, have evolved over the past few years as a network of deeply interconnected and symbiotically linked nodes and layers. With greater involvement of foreign state/non-state players, access to secure communication networks and ease of borderless fund transfers outside government controls, the isolated and specialised groups have started coordinating their activities to harness each other’s networks and resources,” said the police chief.
“For instance, the narcotics trade is now being used for the financial settlement of arms supplies to terror groups and counterfeit currency supplies are being used to finance insurgent networks. The extensive usage of encrypted and secure cyber networks and applications for communication within the criminal/anti-national groups have emerged in parallel,” he added.
“It is imperative that the special cell, which has the mandate to attend to the challenges posed by the terror groups and organised criminal gangs is restructured by aligning its activities into specialised verticals to deal with the evolving challenges,” said Asthana.
