A Game Changer

While the ordinary citizen is constantly under the threat of transnational crimes, like cyber-attacks involving financial crimes which robs them off their hard-earned money (cyber arrests, extortion, impersonation, cryptocurrency frauds, and other financial crimes), investigation of these has become very difficult, because in most cases the criminals are situated abroad, and the proceeds of crime flow outside India quickly, making retrieval almost impossible

- RAKESH ASTHANA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the inaugural session of the 90th Interpol General Assembly on 18 October 2022, made the following pertinent and relevant observation:

"Terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, poaching, and organized crime. The pace of changes of these dangers are faster than earlier. When threats are global, the response cannot be just local! It is high time that the world comes together to defeat these threats."

While addressing the closing session of the 90th Interpol General Assembly on 21 October 2022, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah remarked: "During this period characterized by a revolution in data and information, the nature of crime and criminals have changed. Today crime has become borderless, and if we want to stop this kind of crime and these criminals, we all have to think beyond conventional geographic borders."

In pursuance of the PM's and the HM's vision, and exhortations as above, the Central Bureau of Investigation relentlessly worked on this, and thus it was befitting that Mr Amit Shah, launched the Bharatpol online portal of the CBI on 7 January 2025.

Bharatpol is an acronym for Broadcast Hub for Assistance and Real Time Action against Transnational crimes via international Police cooperation.

It is an online portal accessible through the official website of the CBI, and it has been developed to address the issue of real time assistance to all state police and other central investigating agencies, in the investigation of crimes having international ramifications.