New Delhi: In order to effectively deal
with funding of terrorist activities, the government is
putting in place an elite unit in the Home Ministry to combat
the menace, which has a bearing on national security.
The first-ever such cell will function under the Ministry
of Home Affairs, but will be headed by an officer of the
Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax), sources said.
The unit will function as the "nodal office" between
various investigative and enforcement agencies to deal
exclusively with cases of terror financing and instances of
money laundering for such activities.
According to sources, the cell will have a strength of
eight officials initially and will be a part of the Internal
Security-I division of the Home Ministry.
"The cell, the first such in the Home Ministry, will take
up all cases related to terror funding in India and abroad. It
will collate intelligence and information from all law
enforcement agencies and coordinate with them," a senior
officer privy to the development said.
Initially, the cell will liaise with agencies like the
Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Intelligence Bureau
(IB), Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and
Directorate General of Customs and Central Excise
Intelligence.
Subsequently, the unit will scrutinise information
collected from central police organisations and the Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The unit will start functioning soon, sources said,
adding that the creation of such a special cell was felt
necessary after these agencies found a number of cases having
a bearing on national security.
PTI
