Director-General of Police (DGP) Jacob Punnoose said that cases of misuse of explosive substances are very high in the state. He was speaking to the reporters after a meeting of the special committee constituted by the Central Government for amendment of the Explosives Act here on Saturday.
The committee, headed by Punnoose, comprises DGPranked officers appointed by the Centre.
Punnoose said that the current law only prescribes the safety measures in handling the explosive materials.
“It doesn’t have provisions for restricting the misuse of explosives substances. The law would be amended and restriction on the misuse of explosives also will be included in the Act,” he said and added that the committee will submit its report after conducting two or three sittings. He pointed out that misuse of SIM cards were rampant in the state.
“The SIM card providers of both private and public sector were issuing connection without any proper verification. Using a SIM card taken in another person’s name is illegal. These days most of the criminals use ID proof of friends and relatives for crime activities. We have submitted a recommendation to the state government seeking permission for the police to take action against the connection providers when such cases are reported,” he said.
Turning down the reports that investigation of the T P Chandrashekharan murder case has been completed, Punnoose said that no such decision has been taken and the investigation is still continuing.
“Such false reports were coming out from the initial stage of the investigation but we proceeded with the probe,” he said. He also denied the allegation that phone calls of the police officers investigating the TP murder were being tapped.
“We can’t tap any phone calls, but can only ask the mobile companies to hand over the call details. But this can be done by any officers from the rank of SP. So such reports are baseless,” he added.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the DGP-level officers from other states and intelligence officials.
K Abhay, ADGP, Odisha Police, Sukvinder Singh, IG, Maharashtra Police, P S Purohit, Joint Director, Intelligence Bureau, J P Singh, IG, Chhattisgarh Police, K Pradhan, IG, Special Branch, Jharkhand Police, and Anvesh, IG Madhya Pradesh Police.