Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, April 11 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has ordered an inquiry into an alleged foreign trip without permission by state police’s Inspector General Tomin J. Thachenkery, who is considered close to the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
Achuthanandan, who reached New Delhi Sunday, told media persons there that he has asked Additional Director General of Police Siby Mathew to look into the matter.

Contacted by IANS, Mathew declined to comment on the issue.

Thachenkery’s “trip” was revealed by former legislator and chief of a Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) faction M.P. Veerendra Kumar, who is arch rival of Vijayan, at a public meeting Saturday.

Incidentally, Achuthanandan, who was on a trip to north Kerala Saturday, was also upset when he was told that Thachenkery was on leave for the past 10 days.

According to the rules, an inspector general of police-rank officer, before proceeding on leave and more particularly a foreign trip, has to get it cleared by the chief minister. With Achuthanandan ordering an inquiry, it seems clear that Thachenkery did not get the clearance.

Meanwhile, Thachenkery told a TV channel that he was on leave till Monday and was right now in Kashmir along with his family. He said that he would return to the state later Sunday.

Thachenkery has been in the news for the wrong reasons more than once. In July 2007, he was suspended by Achuthanandan after the vigilance department submitted a report recommending he be kept away from service after a case filed at the Trissur vigilance court against him. The case came on a complaint that he had amassed Rs.9.5 million wealth between Jan 1, 2003 and March 31, 2005, when he was managing director of the state-owned Books and Publication Society.

However, his suspension was later revoked and last year he was deputed to interrogate the self-styled south India chief of Pakistani militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba T. Nazeer and his accomplice, who were arrested at the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya and brought to Bangalore for questioning.

Thachenkery’s association with Vijayan strengthened in the late 1990s. Last year while heading the state police’s cyber division, he tracked down the people who had sent an email with the photograph of a mansion said to be Vijayan’s newly-built home.