Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Wednesday changed his stand on the deputation of Inspector General of Police (North Zone) Tomin J. Thachankari for interrogating two suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants in Bangalore.
The Chief Minister, who had stated on Tuesday that the government had not deputed Mr. Thachankari to Bangalore to question Thadiyantavide Nazir and Shafaz Shamsuddin, said that there was nothing unusual about the deputation of Mr. Thachankari. He was satisfied about the explanation given by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in that regard.
Talking to the media after a meeting of the Cabinet, the Chief Minister said the Home Minister had explained that Mr. Thachankari was sent to Bangalore in the absence of the Deputy Inspector General of Police Vinod Kumar, who is heading the team investigating the terrorism cases. Mr. Kumar was now in the United States and he would take over the investigation on his return in a few days.
Mr. Achuthanandan said that his statement on Tuesday was an immediate response to questions from journalists as to why Mr. Thachankari instead of Mr. Kumar had gone to Bangalore. Mr. Thachankari’s posting was as Inspector General of North zone, and as such, he should not be taking charge of other domains. But he was deputed because Mr. Kumar was on leave. Mr. Balakrishnan could have sent Mr. Thachankari on the basis of the trust he had in the officer.
However, he had communicated his reservations about the officer (in view of allegations against him) to the Home Minister on different occasions.
