Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched ‘Bharatpol’, a specialised unified platform in the form of a web portal for the central investigation agencies and state police departments across the nation, developed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), aimed at streamlining international assistance for investigations through INTERPOL.

Speaking after launching the portal in New Delhi, Shah highlighted that the initiative by the CBI, Bharatpol will enable access to the 19 types of Interpol databases to the country’s state police and the probe agencies.

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Shah underlined that the real-time interface was a key feature of the portal, and will allow the central probe agencies as well as the state police departments to get in touch with the Interpol in an easier way, and enable them to speed up their probe.

The HM said that nowadays, crime has transformed and become border less, while the Bharatpol will act as a game changer, taking the investigations to a next dimension.

He further said that the CBI will however, remain the main coordination agency for Interpol in India.

Shah further said,”It is time we use modern technology to nab and bring to justice the criminals who absconded from India.”

He said that many criminals commit crimes while staying in some other country, but the time has now come, and with the new laws with a provision of ‘trial in absentia,’ a trial against them could begin in their absence.

He also added that, if such criminals are convicted, the process of bringing them back to the country will become easier than before.

The HM also said that the Bharatpol will also help in working on the cases related to drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human trafficking and cross border terror crimes.

Shah also presented Police Medals to 35 officials and personnel of the CBI, who have been awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and the Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation.

According to the probe agency, the portal allows frontline police officers to easily and promptly request international assistance from 195 Interpol member nations using standardised templates.

The portal also enables rapid information dissemination, enabling the CBI as the National Central Bureau (NCB-New Delhi) for INTERPOL in India, to swiftly share criminal intelligence and inputs from the member nations with all the law enforcement agencies in India.