Probe to delay pension benefits,: Ex-top cop Radhakrishnan
KOCHI: Responding to the decision of the state government to conduct another probe against him, retired IPS officer K Radhakrishnan said it was an attempt to delay the payment of retirement benefits to him.The state government had issued an order on Thursday appointing Ernakulam Range DIG Neeraj Kumar Gupta as the investigation officer to probe the charges against Radhakrishnan, including his links with notorious drug peddler Moorkhan Shaji.
The CBCID Economic Offences Wing had found in its inquiry that Radhakrishnan had maintained close links with notorious drug peddlers including Moorkhan Shaji while serving as Additional Excise Commissioner from 2012 to 2015. The actions of the officer amounted to gross indiscipline and misuse of official powers and dereliction of duty. The government found that the explanation furnished by the officer was not satisfactory.
Refuting the charges, Radhakrishnan told TNIE that he was suspended for four-and-a-half years based on the same charges. “Morkhan Shaji was an informer of the Excise Department and we had seized hashish oil worth Rs 6 crore based on the information provided by him. I had tried to streamline the functioning of excise department. These charges are based on a complaint filed by a joint excise commissioner against me. It was dismissed by the Supreme Court,” he said.
The Central Administrative Tribunal has served a notice to the state government based on a contempt of court petition filed by Radhakrishnan.Radhakrishnan says he was tortured and suspended from service for four-and-a-half years by CPM for not toeing the party line while probing the Fazal murder case in 2006.