Over 2,000 police personnel carry out domestic duties at houses of nearly 80 IPS officers and top political leaders and the government spends more than Rs 8 crore as salary of the former every month.Thiruvananthapuram: Top cops in Kerala are beating a temporary retreat in a bid to douse a raging row about the misuse of police personnel for menial tasks at their houses.
The IPS brigade at the police headquarters (PHQ) plans to secure itself for the time being by retaining two policemen officially appointed as personal security officers, besides a driver. The DGP has collected a list of those working illegally.
Details on the 'duties' performed by policemen at the houses of their bosses were revealed after the attack on police driver Gavaskar by the daughter of additional director general of police (ADGP) Sudhesh Kumar snowballed into a major row.
Over 2,000 police personnel carry out domestic duties at houses of nearly 80 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and top political leaders and the government spends more than Rs 8 crore as salary of the former every month.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called a meeting of top police officers from the level of Superintendents to the DGP on June 26. It has been decided to return cops assigned to offices and houses of top officers to their mother units. Such personnel are working illegally in the guise of working arrangement or otherwise.
A majority of the cops doing domestic work for superiors will be send back on the grounds that they are working with the same officer for more than three years.
Those who have been posted without an order and those who have been forced to stay will also be send back.
The IPS lobby has also reportedly obtained oral assurance that their favourite aides will be allowed to return once the chief minister's meeting is over and the current controversy cools off.
Revealing unease among top cops over the developments, they have issued a veiled threat to expose a few secrets if the policemen are not made available. Top cops have threatened to reveal details of a policeman working as a poojari (priest) at the house of a DGP in case the promise is not kept.
A Crime Branch team will be named to investigate the alleged assault on Gavaskar. The government had shifted out ADGP Sudhesh Kumar and entrusted the probe to the Crime Branch. Gavaskar, who is under treatment at the Medical College Hospital, has ocular issues. He also has a swelling around his neck where he was reportedly hit by the daughter of the ADGP.
Read more: Latest Kerala news
