THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch team investigating the postal ballot scam will probe the allegation that 33 policemen attached to the Bekal station were selectively denied postal votes. DGP Loknath Behera, who issued orders to this effect to Crime Branch SP K S Sudarshan, said the allegation will be probed in detail.
Meanwhile, the latest development in the case has compounded the misery of the state police already battling charges of Left-leaning personnel collecting the postal votes of their colleagues en masse in violation of the DGP’s written order against it.
The selective exclusion of 33 cops while distributing postal votes came to fore when they took the matter with the District Collector. The excluded policemen belonged to Kasaragod, Uduma, Kanhangad and Trikkarippur Assembly constituencies.
The 33 cops had applied for the postal ballots on April 12 along with 11 others, who are said to be LDF supporters. However, the former were grossly overlooked while the rest were given ballots.
Similar allegations of omission have come out from Bedakam and Manjeshwaram stations. Most strikingly, those who were denied ballots were touted as UDF sympathisers.
The latest allegation has prompted the Crime Branch team to count the number of applications that were received from police personnel from all the districts for postal ballots. The Crime Branch sources hinted that the possibility of more revelations from other stations cannot be ruled out.”We hope to arrive at a conclusion by May 15,” an officer said. The interim report will be submitted before Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena on May 15.