THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The postal ballot controversy in the police department is snowballing into a bigger crisis. State police chief Loknath Behera on Thursday ordered a Crime Branch inquiry into the whole episode. A directive in this regard was given to intelligence ADGP T K Vinod Kumar, who is additionally handling the charge of the Crime Branch. The ADGP has been asked to register a case first and start the investigation.
It has been also decided to take action against the erring policemen. This will be done after a First Information Report is prepared.
ADGP Vinod Kumar was earlier asked to submit a probe report after it came to light that manipulations were done with the postal votes of policemen.
The voice clip of a policeman, who was placed on security duty at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, had emerged in which he was heard spilling the beans on the plans to garner postal votes from the policemen. It's believed that the collected ballots were later polled by cops belonging to the left-leaning Kerala Police Association.
The ADGP's report had ratified the allegation and said a detailed probe was needed to uncover the whole truth.
This report that also put the blame on police association office-bearers was forwarded to Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena along with the suggestions of Behera.
Meena had later directed Behera to initiate action before May 15.
It's been reliably learnt that departmental action will be taken against a few cops. The top brass in the department is viewing the incident with utmost seriousness as the police chief had earlier issued a circular warning subordinates not to indulge in any manipulation related to postal votes.