THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The purchase of bullet-resistant vehicles by state police chief Loknath Behera without following store-purchase norms had the government’s approval. The order issued by the Home Department on January 5 last year, giving approval in this regard, came out on Monday. It underlined the CAG report findings that the DGP had fixed the deal and then had the government approve it. The order has become public at a time when the government is trying to play down the CAG report.
The order proves the government justified Behera’s actions knowing fully that he flouted the procurement norms under Stores Purchase Manual and open tender in buying Mitsubishi Pajero. The DGP gave the supply order for two bullet- resistant vehicles for `1,10,04,000. He effected the 30 per cent upfront payment to the Hindustan Motors Finance Corporation in September 2017 before getting government sanction.
The government later approved the purchase based on the letters written by Behera on May 10 and September 9 in 2018. The CAG report did not buy the police chief ’s argument that he did not go for open tender keeping in mind the security factor. The report had pointed out that states like Odisha and Bihar had opted for open tender to make similar procurement.
Crime Branch rejects CAG report
REJECTING the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report on missing rifles, the Crime Branch (CB) team that inspected the rifle inventory at Special Armed Police Battalion (SAPB) concluded that no rifles were found missing. The CB team displayed the rifles available with Special Armed Police Battalion in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday to counter the CAG charges. CB displayed 647 of the 660 rifles of the battalion, with the remaining, according to Crime Branch ADGP Tomin Thachankary, were with the policemen who were training at India Reserve Battalion in Manipur. The authenticity of these rifles were confirmed with the policemen via a video call.
The Kerala Police response comes six days after the CAG report said 25 INSAS rifles had been missing from SAPB. The ADGP rejected the CAG report on missing rifles. Meanwhile, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan on Monday termed the alleged leakage of the CAG report before it was tabled in the assembly as serious. However, future course of action will be decided after consultation with the Public Accounts Committee of the assembly, he added.