Rajnath Singh to attend Interpol meet; to visit Israel too

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will represent India at Interpol's General Assembly beginning November 3 in Monaco where he is expected to seek the support for cases having international ramifications, including those related to terror.

Singh will be accompanied by a delegation of senior officers including CBI director Ranjit Sinha, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi besides others, official sources said.

India may seek a permanent berth in Interpol's General Secretariat as despite being one of the oldest members, it does not have a senior representative, sources said.

On his return, the Home Minister will travel to Israel for a bilateral visit during which a number of agreements on security cooperation between the two countries are expected to be signed.

The Home Minister is likely to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the visit.

Singh's tour comes more than a month after the meeting between Netanyahu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York.

During that meeting, Netanyahu had said "sky is the limit" in terms of prospects of cooperation between the two countries, seeking "greater and greater" ties with India.

Netanyahu was among the first global leaders to call Modi to congratulate him over his victory in Lok Sabha polls.

Israel's National Security Adviser Joseph Cohen had met Rajnath Singh and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval earlier this month.

It will be the first visit of an Indian Home Minister to Israel since June 2000 when L K Advani visited Tel Aviv which marked an upswing in bilateral cooperation.