C.M:Thachankary had not been sent by the government to Bangalore

09 Dec 2009

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The row over the deputing of IG Kannur-range Tomin Thachankary to Bangalore to quiz Thadiyantavide Nazeer has taken a fresh turn with the Chief Minister publicly airing his displeasure at the move.


Thachankary was backed by the Home Minister who said the deputation was done by the Home Department.

On the sidelines of a function to give away e-governance awards, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said that Thachankary had not been sent by the government to Bangalore.

"It is your duty to find out who sent him," he told reporters.

This comment was conveyed to Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who was holding a press conference at the same time in his chamber. "It is the Home Department which sent Thachankary to Bangalore," Kodiyeri told reporters.

"It is not necessary that a decision to send a police officer to another state for investigation be discussed in the Cabinet," he said.

The Home Minister accused the Opposition of destroying Thachankary's morale by raising such allegations.

He also alleged that the UDF was trying to torpedo the investigation as most of the terroristrelated incidents in the state had occurred during the UDF term.

Thachankary held sensitive posts during the the previous UDF term also, he said.

There are eight cases pending against Nazeer in the state, of which four are in Kannur. Hence Thachankary went to Bangalore.

Members of the special investigation team led by DIG Internal-Security T K Vinod Kumar have also gone to Bangalore. Vinod Kumar is in the US and will join the investigation as soon as he returns, Kodiyeri said. He said the SIT was only probing the case registered at the Edakad police station pertaining to recruitment of Malayali youths.

The state police had provided vital information to RAW in April 2009 regarding Nazeer's presence in Bangladesh, he said, terming baseless the allegations that Thachankary was sent to Bangalore to torpedo the probe.

Kodiyeri said that though Nazeer was held in 1999 in connection with the E K Nayanar murder attempt he absconded after getting conditional bail. The UDF had then alleged that it was a fabricated case, and the UDF govt that succeeded had not made any effort to trace Nazeer. The UDF had dismantled the anti-terrorist squad constituted by the Nayanar government, providing a congenial atmosphere for extremist organisations to grow. About ten extremistrelated incidents, including the Kalamassery bus burning and Kozhikode twin-blast, occurred during the UDF term, Kodiyeri said.

He asked why the UDF was averse to a CBI probe into the conspiracy angle of the Marad riot, as recommended by the Justice Joseph Thomas commission.