KOCHI: Two senior excise officers are facing disciplinary action for lapses in supervising a seizure of 1.1kg of MDMA worth Rs.13 crore from a serviced apartment in Kakkanad in August 2021.
In an order issued by the state government on July 27, disciplinary actions were initiated against former Ernakulam excise deputy commissioner N Ashok Kumar and former Ernakulam assistant excise commissioner Babu Varghese.
The excise commissioner had already suspended an inspector and transferred four others in connection with the case. Inspector N Sankar, Excise Enforcement and Anti-Narcotic Special Squad (EEANSSS), Ernakulam, who carried out the initial investigation, was suspended and EEANSS circle inspector G Vinoj, preventive officer K S Pramod, and civil excise officers M S Sivakumar and M A Shibu were transferred after it was found that they let off two prime accused persons in the case without any proper inquiries.
There were irregularities in the seizure of money and mobile phones from the crime scene as well. An internal probe by a joint commissioner revealed serious lapses on the part of Ashok and Babu in carrying out their supervisory roles and issued a memo against them.
In his response to the memo, Ashok said he had Covid symptoms on August 18, 2021. He said he discussed the MDMA seizure from Kakkanad with the Central Zone joint commissioner and did not interfere in the matter as the case was registered by expert officers with several years of experience in handling NDPS cases. Similarly, Babu explained that he also suffered from fever that day.