: Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has said the second phase of ‘Operation Kubera’ has been launched to carry forward the campaign against usurious practices in the State.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Chennithala said the second phase would focus on processing the various cases registered against moneylenders after Operation Kubera was launched, besides conducting an awareness campaign. A high-level meeting would be convened on September 22 to discuss how to make the second phase a success.
Refuting the charge that Operation Kubera had outlived its purpose, the Home Minister said that 2,663 cases were registered and 1,577 persons were arrested in the first phase. In 934 cases, charge-sheet had been filed in courts. The rest of the cases would be processed by October 31 and charge-sheets would be filed in the respective courts.
Assistant Inspector General of Police Debashish Behra would head the Kubera Monitoring Cell. The vigil against moneylending practices would continue. He encouraged victims of “Blade” mafia to register their complaints utilising the three or four options provided by the police, including the helpline and nodal officers in the district. They were welcome to contact him any time if they were not satisfied with the response of the police, he said.
With regard to the suicides in Palakkad and Nedumangad, Mr. Chennithala said the available information indicated that the deaths were not connected to moneylenders because at no point of time had the police got complaints from the deceased. The transfers of the Kollam and Thrissur police commissioners had nothing to do with Operation Kubera.
They had been shifted because they had completed two-and-a-half-years in their respective positions. The two officers, Mr. Behra and P. Prakash, had been given important assignments. Mr. Behra would be in charge of the Nirbhaya project. In reply to a question, Mr. Chennithala said that action had been taken against 12 police officers as part of Operation Kubera. Instructions had been issued to police officials not to get involved in any arbitration or media activities in Kubera cases.
Mr. Chennithala said the government had completed the procedures for a probe by a Central agency and it was left to the Narendra Modi government to take a decision.
The State government had sought a CBI probe, even while completing all the mandatory procedures in the case.
