CB to deploy officer in HC to check merit of cases

State Police Chief Loknath Behera conveyed the decision to the Advocate General’s Office on Monday.
Kerala High Court (File Photo| A Sanesh, EPS)
Kerala High Court (File Photo| A Sanesh, EPS)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Assessing that the indiscriminate transfer of cases from the local police to the State Crime Branch is affecting the latter’s quality of investigation, the police department has decided to dissuade the practice of transferring cases to the special wing at the drop of a hat. As a first step, the Crime Branch (CB) will deploy one of its senior officers at the Kerala High Court, who will check the pleas for CB investigation and inform the court whether the case in question merits the special wing’s attention.

State Police Chief Loknath Behera conveyed the decision to the Advocate General’s Office on Monday. In the letter, Behera said CB is a specialised agency formed to probe complex cases, but of late it has been handed many ordinary cases that ought to be probed by the local police.

“Crime Branch is an investigating agency for specialised investigation of cases, with a wide canvas of operational factors like inter-state involvement, inter-district operations having a sensational nature, heinous crimes, serious crimes against women and childrenetc. But in recent times, many ordinary and simple cases, which could have been easily investigated by the local police, are being transferred to Crime Branch,” Behera wrote to the advocate general.

He said:“It goes without saying that the quality of investigation will deteriorate when the number of cases increases beyond limit.” A senior CB officer is required to be present in HC to apprise the government prosecutor about the difficulties and the mandate of a CB investigation. “The availability of manpower and other logistic support of CB have to be presented effectively before the High Court when such a case is considered for transfer to Crime Branch, so as to ensure that only deserving cases are transferred,” the letter read.

Handling more than 3,000 cases in state
With a strength of 100 officers, CB is currently handling more than 3,000 cases in the state, which makes it difficult for the wing to complete a probe meticulously and within the stipulated time. 

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