KOCHI: Minister for Home and Vigilance Ramesh Chennithala has said that illegal moneylenders will be booked under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act- KAAPA, and that the Act will be introduced in the next phase of Operation ‘Kuber’.
The Minister was inaugurating a seminar here on Inter-Disciplinary Colloquium on Preventive Detention Laws. The Minister said that the Operation ‘Kuber’ will be transparent and any attempt to sabotage it will be dealt with seriously. If police officers are found involved in such illegal acts, strict action will be taken against them.
Amendments will be made in the Act that would allow the attachment of land of those detained, and the detention period will be extended from six months to a year, if caught for the second time.
The amendment will come to force from the next Assembly meeting. An ‘adalat’ will be conducted under the supervision of the District Superintendent before June 20.
The Minister also pointed out that white-collar crimes in the state are increasing and the IPC and CrPC will be amended to tackle this.
Necessary provisions will be made to provide legal assistance to produce the case before the KAAPA board and attempts will be made to bring in money-chain groups under legal framework.
The Minister also acknowledged the possibilities of KAAPA being misused and advised that the Act must be made use of with extreme care.
KAAPA chairman Justice V Ramkumar, Additional Chief Secretary Nivedita P Haran, State Police Chief K S Balasubramaniam, Director General of Prosecution T Asaf Ali, Additional Director Generals of Prosecution Tom Jose Padinjarekkara and K I Abdul Rasheed, advisory board members Thomas Mathew and Paul Simon also attended the seminar.