Kochi: Central station circle inspector (CI) V S Navas, who has been missing since Thursday, had withdrawn Rs 10,000 from an ATM at Thevara in Kochi, it has emerged.
Manorama News has accessed the CCTV images of Navas drawing money from the ATM on Thursday early morning. He had reportedly gone straight to the ATM from the central station.
As per the images, Navas, wearing a T-shirt and pants, spent around 2.5 minutes inside the ATM.
The police circle inspector went missing after he was verbally abused over the wireless set by a senior officer on Wednesday night, it was said. The investigation is also looking into the reason for the tiff with the assistant commissioner.
Navas reportedly entered into a heated argument with the assistant commissioner who took him to task for being absent during a roll call on Wednesday night. Though both of them withdrew after a while, the CI and assistant commissioner got into an altercation again. All those who were present at the city police station were witness to this war of words.
The cop, who reached the station in the wee hours of Thursday, left the sim card of his official mobile phone and sent a message to his wife that he was going on a journey. He met a cop at Kayamkulam bus stand by 9am and told him that he was going for court duty. It is believed that Navas’ personal mobile phone is with him. However, it has been switched off.
His colleagues said that Navas, who has a good track record, was known to react emotionally in official matters.
The cops are investigating the case based on his wife's complaint. Commissioner Vijay Sakhare has assigned the investigation to a special team led by DCP G Poonguzhali.
Special branch assistant commissioner S T Suresh Kumar, and Thrikkakara assistant commissioner Stwart Keeler are also part of the team.
