Ever since he arrested the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agents -- ex-serviceman Shailesh Jagtap of Satara and the fugitive Pakistani spy Sayeed Desai, the heroics of Inspector Barge have been the subject of avid discussion and appreciation in the police circles.

Barge holds the record of eliminating as many as 19 gangsters and arresting many others affiliated to the underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim, Arun Gawli, Choota Rajan and Abu Salem during thrilling encounters. Since the officer took charge of the Anti Extortion Cell of Pune Police in August 2006, he has detected 93 cases of extortion, kidnapping, land scams and other serious crimes, besides arresting three ISI agents.

Barge says that working in Pune was not that difficult because he was well aware of the crime syndicates in the city ever since he was a student of Arts at the Ferguson College in the early 1980s. "I was very active in college politics. Through this I developed a good knowledge about the city which helped me a lot along with my 19 years of experience with Mumbai police," said Barge, who has also pursued an MBA degree from the University of Pune.

"My main focus was to curb the gang wars and control the activities of land mafia that were on a significant rise with the soaring land prices in Pune," he says.

"We prepared a list of hardcore as well as the white collar criminals associated with the gangs in the city. Then we came up with a strategy to curb their activities. Now, all the major gang leaders in the city are behind the bars. Also, those who are out of jail are under our watch," he adds.

Barge had arrested the most wanted criminals Raja Gaikwad, Pappu Sanghvi, Parshuram Jadhav of the Baba Bodke Gang. He arrested 11 key members of Ganesh Marne and Anil Khilare gang involved in the sensational daylight murder of Sandeep Mohol. His team was successful in controlling the activities of dreaded gangs of Rakesh Bharne, Balu Vaghire, Gajanan Marne and the Andekars.

Speaking about the crime scenario of Pune on the backdrop of ISI agents' arrest, Barge admits that the city is certainly a hot spot with major defence establishments, IT companies and educational institutes. "Not just the police, but every citizen of Pune needs to be alert and act accordingly for maintaining the peace in the city," he avers.