Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Crime Branch is in the throes of an overhaul with the arrival of Tomin Thachankary, IPS, at its helm a couple of months ago. As part of a major bid to streamline its duties and cut on workload, the specialised investigating wing has set clear parameters for taking up more cases even as the Kerala Police's reliance on the investigative prowess of the former is increasing.
Director-General of Police (DGP) Loknath Behera has directly transferred 750 cases to the Crime Branch during the last one year. Apart from these, 50 cases were transferred to the Crime Branch as per government orders and 20 cases after the court intervened.
However, Crime Branch ADGP Thachankary is of the opinion that petty cases need not be investigated by his unit. He has formally informed the DGP about the Crime Branch's intent to return more than 250 cases to the local police. The senior officer has also explained as to why each of the cases doesn't have to be probed by the Crime Branch. Thachankary has also instructed the unit chiefs to check if there are more such cases.
If a case is handed over to the Crime Branch from now on, a preliminary investigation has to be held in 15 days. The Crime Branch senior officers assessed that the multitude of cases was adversely affecting the investigation.
Hands full
The Crime Branch in Kerala today has as many as 825 investigative officers, 65 CIs and 42 DySPs.
It has currently got 2,800 cases on its records.
Often one Crime Branch officer would probe 28 to 60 cases in a year. However, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer would probe just two cases on an average in a year, while a Vigilance officer would investigate only four cases.
No more joint probes
The practice of forming special investigative teams by including officers from the local police and the Crime Branch would be done away with as Crime Branch seeks to regulate its workload.
Thachankary has informed Behera that including officers in such teams would adversely affect the probe of Crime Branch cases.
Fourteen special investigation teams led by the Crime Branch and the 12 teams led by the local police are active in the state currently.
In this ongoing bid to rationalise the tasks, 96 constables and SI-rank officers who had been with the Crime Branch for more than five years have been sent back to the police wing. Thirty-seven drivers too were returned. Instead, these many personnel were recruited by the Crime Branch through written tests and interviews.
In order to ensure stability in the force no reshuffle has been envisaged for three years.
Thachankary, an IPS officer of the 1987 batch, was appointed as the Crime Branch ADGP in September. He was functioning as the Armed Police Battalion ADGP briefly after he was removed as the Managing Director of KSRTC in January.