MHA asks all states to quarterly review list of wanted persons

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Embarrassed by the goof-up in the list of India's most wanted terrorists, the Home Ministry has asked all states, union territories and probe agencies to update their list of wanted persons every three months and inform the Centre about it.

In an advisory, the Home Ministry also asked the states, UTs and investigating agencies to inform it immediately if anyone of the wanted list is arrested and ensure that the name is deleted from the list.

"This is the first step that we have taken. Some more actions will be taken to ensure that the list of wanted persons is error-free," a Home Ministry official said.

The action came in the wake of findings that two persons, whose names were included in the list of '50 most wanted' and handed over to Pakistan, have been living in Mumbai--one in Thane and the other in a jail of the metropolis.

Officials said the list, which was handed over to Pakistan, was prepared by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence Bureau, National Investigation Agency and other wings of the government.

"There were three rounds of meetings among the officials of these organisations and due diligence were done before finalising the list to be handed over to Pakistan. Unfortunately, the error had happened and now we are trying our best to ensure a foolproof mechanism," an official said.