New Delhi, Jan. 19: India has proposed coordinated patrolling along the 1,750-km long border with Nepal to prevent Maoists from criss-crossing the porous border.

A high-level Nepalese delegation led by home secretary Chandi Prasad Shreshtha is learnt to have reacted positively to the proposal and indicated Kathmandu?s willingness to discuss the ?good idea? threadbare.

The proposal came up during discussions here to finalise an extradition treaty to replace the 1953 pact and seal the mutual legal assistance treaty. Both treaties were firmed up today for signing by senior leaders at a later date.

India has an agreement with Pakistan for coordinated patrolling along its western border in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat but a proposal for patrolling the eastern border with Bangladesh is pending final clearance from Dhaka. The Bangladesh government had ?in principle? approved the proposal at the home secretary-level meeting last year. There has since been no forward movement on this from Dhaka.

But Delhi believes the Kathmandu proposal will not hit a similar roadblock. Maoists in India and Nepal have been trying to expand their area of influence to carve a revolutionary zone from Nepal through Bihar and deep into Andhra Pradesh and beyond.

The Naxalites are not bound by national borders, crossing them whenever it gets too hot for them in one country.

Shootout cop held

The CBI has arrested CISF constable Ravinder Rana for allegedly shooting down two colleagues at the Indian mission in Kathmandu and has sent a team of forensic experts to Kathmandu to collect evidence in the case.