Missing arms, scams add to Kerala top cop’s woes

A series of scams and a sensational case of disappearance of arms from the police arsenal have put the Kerala Police in the dock.

A day after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) submitted a report damning the Director General of Police, Lok Nath Behera, for financial irregularities in the utilisation of government funds and the mysterious disappearance of 25 rifles and over 12,000 bullets from the police battery, the police chief's hands are suspected in the award of a sensitive surveillance deal to a private company.

Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan expressed serious apprehensions about the missing arms, wondering whether these have ended up in the hands of terrorists. The missing bullets were discovered to have been replaced with dummy ones, indicating a serious conspiracy with the involvement of insiders.

Muraleedharan's remarks assume significance in view of the fact several terror incidents across the country have had Kerala connections, with the involvement of some militant outfits operating in the state.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has demanded the dismissal of DGP Behera and institution of a probe by NIA. He also wants a CBI inquiry into the CAG findings.

The CAG report, which was presented to the state assembly by Finance Minister Thomas Issac, levelled serious allegations against Behera, including violation of tendering guidelines in the purchase of bulletproof vehicles. The CAG also found that the police chief diverted funds meant for other purposes to construct luxury villas for himself and other senior officers.

The police chief, known to be a favourite of CM Pinarayi Vijayan, met the Chief Minister and explained the situation in the wake of the CAG findings. The CM is learnt to have advised the DGP not to take media queries and insist that his response would be provided to the right forum such as the Public Accounts Committee. When the media asked the chief minister about the CAG findings, he said appropriate action would be taken as per due procedure, but refused comments on the points raised by CAG.