Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sought a report from the Home Secretary Vishwas Mehta on the charges in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report against the purchase of equipment and cars by the state police force.
The report will shed light on whether there were malpractices in procuring equipment and bulletproof cars for use of VIPs in the state.
The purchase of the vehicles was illegal and in conflict with the Stores Purchase Manual, the CAG had pointed out in the report.
The Congress-led Opposition too had sought an investigation into the matter.
State police chief Lokanath Behera had intentionally violated the guidelines, including the Central Vigilance Commission directive to choose pricing in a transparent manner, as per the CAG report.
The report said that the Behera’s decision to bypass the tender process and release an advance amount was in violation of rules. The auditor had also pointed out that a central directive clearly barred the police from spending on VIP protection from funds intended for the modernisation of the force.
Kerala Police was granted Rs 1.26 crore in 2016-17 to buy bulletproof vehicles. The government had released the funds with a condition that the police were to abide by the provisions of the Stores Purchase Manual.
Behera, however, formed a technical committee without bothering to invite tenders as stipulated in the manual.
The committee proposed the purchase of a vehicle for Rs 55.02 lakh.
The police later decided to buy two bulletproof cars for Rs 1.10 crore without inviting tenders and requested the government to validate the decision to buy the vehicles without inviting tenders.
Behera reportedly did not want to invite tenders for security reasons.
Rs 33 lakh was later transferred to the carmakers by the police without waiting for a nod from the government.
The CAG report also inferred that the police had zeroed in on the vehicles to be bought even before the official channels were initiated for the purchase.
Missing guns and bullets
The CAG report had also indicated that 25 INSAS rifles and over 12,000 bullets were missing from the Special Armed Police (SAP) camp at Peroorkada in Thiruvananthapuram.
However, an investigation led by Crime Branch chief Tomin Thachankary disputed the contention of the CAG report after carrying out inspections.
The 660 rifles that were procured by the battalion was accounted for at the camp – 647 rifles were on display and the remaining 13 were with the AR battalion stationed in Manipur, Thachankary said on Monday.
Thachankary, however, admitted that several bullets were indeed missing from the camp. An investigation is underway and a detailed report will be submitted within two months, the ADGP said.
