Author: VR Jayaraj
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 31, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/357373/Who-reinstated-tainted-Kerala-top-cop-after-14-months.html
Who was responsible for reinstating Kerala's
controversial IPS official Tomin J Thachankery in service after a 14-month
suspension? The Centre seems to be eager to put the blame on the Congress-led
Government in Kerala but Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is reiterating that
he has got the Centre's letter clearing Thachankery's reinstatement.
Former Union Home Secretary GK Pillai told
the media the other day that the Kerala Government had taken the initiative
to reinstate Thachankery, against whom an NIA probe was progressing over his
alleged connections with some Malayalee terror men in Qatar.
Thachankery was suspended from service in
April, 2010 for touring the Gulf without the Government's authorisation. The
suspension was extended twice after the NIA launched a probe against him over
the alleged terror link in Qatar. He joined back in service on July 11 on
the basis of a Kerala Cabinet decision to reinstate him.
"The Kerala Government had written to
the Centre asking whether it had any objection to reinstating Thachankery
in service. The Centre discussed the matter with the NIA which said they had
not got any evidences against him and this information was handed over to
the Kerala Government," Pillai said.
Though VS Achuthanandan, who as the then Chief
Minister had issued the instruction to suspend Thachankery, questioned the
Cabinet decision, Chandy claimed the Government's action was legally valid.
But the revelation by Pillai suggests that Chandy could have concealed a sensitive
fact and misled the State Assembly as Achuthanandan had alleged.
Last week, Union Minister of State for Home
Mullappally Ramachandran said that the Centre had not sent any letter to the
Kerala Government clearing Thachankery's reinstatement. However, Chandy, in
reply to both Pillai and Mullappally, reiterated that the Centre's letter
stating of its no-objection was still in his possession.
On May 12, a day before the announcement of
the Assembly poll results in Kerala, Thachankery had written to the Centre
requesting clearance for his reinstatement. Also, there were allegations that
the NIA wing concerned with the probe against Thachankery was headed by some
of his former colleagues.
Meanwhile, the Kochi city police have opposed
issuance of a new passport to the controversial IPS official. The police told
the Regional Passport Office, Kochi that they could not recommend issuance
of a new passport to Thachankery as a criminal case was on against him and
also the NIA was conducting an investigation against him.
The passport office will issue a notice to
Thachankery to demand an explanation for concealing the fact that he was facing
a criminal case. The tainted official had applied for a new passport in February
last saying that the pages of his old passport had exhausted. It would also
ask him to submit a fresh no-objection certificate (NOC) as he was a Government
official.
The Kochi police said in the letter that Thachankery
was undergoing court proceedings in a criminal case pertaining to the torture
of a person in a police station lock-up in Alappuzha. The NIA was holding
a probe against him over his alleged relationship with terror men though no
case had been registered in this regard, the police said.
