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Centre wants action against tainted Kerala top cop
The Union Home Department has asked the Kerala Government to take action immediately against controversial IPS official Tomin J Thachankery, Inspector General, in the name of his unauthorised Arabian visit in 2010. A letter regarding this from the Centre was reportedly received by the Kerala Chief Secretary’s office three days back.
Thachankery, who was under suspension from April, 2010, for his unauthorised Gulf tour, was reinstated in service in July last by the Congress-led UDF Government after the suspension period had ended. It had also given him posting as the managing director of the Kerala State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MarketFed).
Thachankery had requested the Government for promotion after being reinstated in service, following which the State Government wrote to the Union Home Department seeking its clearance because the NIA was looking into allegation about his ‘mysterious’ meetings and activities in the Gulf, particularly in Qatar.
The Centre’s instruction for action against Thachankery was mentioned in the letter it wrote in reply to the State Government’s query. The basis of the Centre’s instruction is the report the NIA has submitted on Thachankery’s activities abroad. A report said that the Chief Secretary has sought clarity from the Centre on the letter as it had no signature or seal of the sender.
The NIA has reportedly found that Thachankery had held meetings with mysterious persons in the Gulf during his tour. It has also concluded that his hotel bills in the Gulf were paid by persons whose credentials were questionable. But Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had justified Thachankery’s reinstatement saying that this was done after consulting the NIA.
According to State BJP general secretary K Surendran, “It is now becoming clear that the Chief Minister had lied. His crime is far more serious than that of the police official himself.” Thachankery is known to be close to the Congress party as well as the neo-liberalist official leadership of the CPI(M).
Then chief minister VS Achuthanandan had in April, 2010 ordered Thachankery’s suspension on the basis of a report from the ADGP (Intelligence) that the official had toured four Gulf countries earlier that month without clearance from the authorities and also by misleading the Government. He had informed his superiors that he was planning to go to Gangtok and then went to the Gulf.
This was followed by a communication from the Union Home Department to the Kerala Government on Thachankery’s visit to Doha, Qatar two months prior to that. This letter was on the basis of a report from the Indian envoy in Qatar. As per this, Thachankery was said to have offered free passage into Kerala to some wanted terror elements holed up in Doha.
The then LDF Government wrote back to the Centre asking it to order an investigation into the allegation against Thachankery as no State agency was competent enough to hold it because of the international ramifications. It was after this the investigation into Thachankery’s tours was handed over to the NIA.
However, Thachankery told the media on Saturday that the latest reports were part of a campaign being carried out against him for the past several years. “I have not committed any crime. The NIA has already exonerated me. I have not accepted any favours from undesirable elements,” he said.
The Union Home Department has asked the Kerala Government to take action immediately against controversial IPS official Tomin J Thachankery, Inspector General, in the name of his unauthorised Arabian visit in 2010. A letter regarding this from the Centre was reportedly received by the Kerala Chief Secretary’s office three days back.
Thachankery, who was under suspension from April, 2010, for his unauthorised Gulf tour, was reinstated in service in July last by the Congress-led UDF Government after the suspension period had ended. It had also given him posting as the managing director of the Kerala State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MarketFed).
Thachankery had requested the Government for promotion after being reinstated in service, following which the State Government wrote to the Union Home Department seeking its clearance because the NIA was looking into allegation about his ‘mysterious’ meetings and activities in the Gulf, particularly in Qatar.
The Centre’s instruction for action against Thachankery was mentioned in the letter it wrote in reply to the State Government’s query. The basis of the Centre’s instruction is the report the NIA has submitted on Thachankery’s activities abroad. A report said that the Chief Secretary has sought clarity from the Centre on the letter as it had no signature or seal of the sender.
The NIA has reportedly found that Thachankery had held meetings with mysterious persons in the Gulf during his tour. It has also concluded that his hotel bills in the Gulf were paid by persons whose credentials were questionable. But Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had justified Thachankery’s reinstatement saying that this was done after consulting the NIA.
According to State BJP general secretary K Surendran, “It is now becoming clear that the Chief Minister had lied. His crime is far more serious than that of the police official himself.” Thachankery is known to be close to the Congress party as well as the neo-liberalist official leadership of the CPI(M).
Then chief minister VS Achuthanandan had in April, 2010 ordered Thachankery’s suspension on the basis of a report from the ADGP (Intelligence) that the official had toured four Gulf countries earlier that month without clearance from the authorities and also by misleading the Government. He had informed his superiors that he was planning to go to Gangtok and then went to the Gulf.
This was followed by a communication from the Union Home Department to the Kerala Government on Thachankery’s visit to Doha, Qatar two months prior to that. This letter was on the basis of a report from the Indian envoy in Qatar. As per this, Thachankery was said to have offered free passage into Kerala to some wanted terror elements holed up in Doha.
The then LDF Government wrote back to the Centre asking it to order an investigation into the allegation against Thachankery as no State agency was competent enough to hold it because of the international ramifications. It was after this the investigation into Thachankery’s tours was handed over to the NIA.
However, Thachankery told the media on Saturday that the latest reports were part of a campaign being carried out against him for the past several years. “I have not committed any crime. The NIA has already exonerated me. I have not accepted any favours from undesirable elements,” he said.
