The State police have kept as reserve a select pool of 84 officers to be drafted for investigation of terrorist and anti-national activities if they were to take place in the State.
These officers will be deployed to investigate such cases anywhere in the State, and for this, the places of posting for their normal law-and-order or other duties will be immaterial.
Issuing orders in this connection, State Police Chief K.S. Balasubramanian said the officers were those with proven investigative skills.
They comprise eight in the rank of Superintendent of Police, 27 in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police and 49 in the rank of circle inspector.
The IPS officers in the pool are A. Akbar, Debesh Kumar Behera and Rahul R. Nair. The others in the rank of Superintendent of Police are N. Ramachandran, P.N. Unnirajan, A.V. George, Abdul Kareem and Mohammed Shabir.
Those in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police are Ajaya Babu, Prasannan Nair, A. Shahnavas, C.G. Suresh Kumar, Suneesh Kumar, B. Radhakrishna Pillai, Jaison K. Abraham, Mohana Chandran Nair, Prince Abraham, Josey Cheriyan, Gopakumaran Nair, R. Mahesh, A.P. Soukathali, Aji K.K., Shahul Hammed C.S., P. Vahid, M.J. Sojan, P.A. Mohammed Arif, P.K. Madhu, M.N. Ramesh, V.K. Akbar, R. Prathapan Nair, Baiju K.E., Sunil Kumar V., Biju K. Stephen, Sasidharan S. and V. Ajith.
The police have formed the pool to prime the force to take on terrorist activities in the State. Mr. Balasubramanian’s order said a specialised and equipped team should get going without delay in case of terrorist or anti-national activities to gather evidence scientifically and analyse it in the shortest possible time. To ensure all these, a well-defined system should be in place.
Procedure
The order said that if any operation of terrorists or anti-national elements was revealed or suspected, the case should be immediately handed over to the Internal Security Investigation Team of the Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department. The District Police Chief should alert the team to such cases. The officers from the reserve pool would function under the team’s authorities.
Whether such cases have been formally transferred to it or not, the team should join the investigation from the initial stages. Within 24 hours of designating the team as the investigating agency, the local police would have to hand it over the case-related files and other materials.
All wings of the police should assist, and cooperate with, the team “in abundant measure” in the investigation, the order said. The District Police Chief should provide a camp office for it at the earliest.
The Inspector General of Police, Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department, should inform the Director of the National Investigation Agency about any such cases, the order said.
