The State government’s search for a ranking officer to succeed T.P. Senkumar as State Police Chief (SPC) appeared to have gathered pace on Tuesday.
With Mr. Senkumar due to retire on June 30, the last-minute scrabble for an officer to lead the police force has provided sensational grist to speculators in the media as well as the bureaucracy. The force has been under severe political spotlight lately and a screening committee headed by Chief Secretary Nalini Netto has made a short list of four candidates for the key post.
They are Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) Director Loknath Behera; Director of the Institute of Management in Government Jacob Thomas; Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh; and A.K. Sinha, currently a RAW attache in India’s Embassy in Washington.
Officials knowledgeable of the pecking order in the force said that Mr. Sinha, a 1984 batch officer, was an unlikely contender for the post.
In hierarchal status, Mr. Jacob Thomas, a 1985 Kerala cadre officer, is the natural choice for the post if the government goes solely by order of seniority in rank.
However, the fact that Mr. Thomas had to quit the helmsmanship of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in March after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan signalled his strong discontent with the agency’s functioning could weigh against him. Officials said Mr. Behera’s brief stint as SPC was widely perceived as a strong factor in his favour.
The government, for its part, has not revealed its inkling. However, officials said it was highly possible that the government has taken a political decision in the matter. The Chief Minister is expected to reveal his mind when he returns to the capital early on Thursday from Kannur to chair the Cabinet meeting. A major reshuffle in the top echelons of the police is also anticipated.
