As many as 71 refugees wanted by India were found in a foreign country in 2024-25, the highest in 12 years, government data shows.
According to 2024-25 Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Annual ReportThe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found 71 persons wanted by India in foreign countries, while 27 fugitives returned to India in the last financial year.
The CBI processed and commented on more than 22,200 applications for renunciation of Indian citizenship on the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) portal.
“A ruthless approach is needed”
At the 2025 CBI conference, Union Home Minister Amit Shah emphasized the need for a no-nonsense approach to ensure the extradition of fugitives.
Over the previous decade, the number of fugitives traced to foreign countries varied between 15 in 2013 and 42 in 2015, before shooting up to 71 last year, according to DoPT reports from previous years. The number of refugees extradited or deported to India annually, on the other hand, varied between 5 and 29, with the highest number recorded in 2023. As of 2020, the data also includes refugees who “returned to India from abroad/arrested/placed in India under LoC (Look Out Circulars).
Release requests
According to the reply of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in Parliament on 19 December 2025, India has signed extradition treaties with 48 countries and has extradition arrangements with 12 countries. India is also a party to multilateral conventions such as the UN Convention against Corruption, which can serve as a legal framework for bringing fugitive criminals from other countries that are also party to these conventions.
In the last five years, India has sent 137 extradition requests to foreign countries, the MEA said. Of these, 134 requests have been accepted, with 125 of them still being discussed by foreign governments. Three applications were rejected.
“In the last five years, 25 refugees have been successfully extradited to India,” the MEA added.
533 pending requests
The CBI’s Global Operations Center geo-locates wanted criminals and fugitives in cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies, through Interpol channels and through the issuance of Interpol notices.
“While ascertaining the location of the wanted persons, the CBI coordinates with the concerned law enforcement agencies, the National Central Bureau of INTERPOL (NCB) of the concerned countries, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs for the return of the wanted persons from abroad,” the report said.
In 2024–2025, 74 court requests, called subpoenas, were sent to foreign governments. Of these, 54 relate to CBI cases and 20 to state and central law enforcement agencies. In 2024–25, 47 legal aid applications were processed, of which 42 were from the CBI and five from other agencies.
As on 31 March 2025, a total of 533 MLAs have been processed with other countries, of which 276 relate to CBI cases and 257 relate to state police and other central law enforcement agencies.
Published – 23 Jan 2026 22:45 IST
