THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an extraordinary move, the Kerala Police on Thursday officially rebuffed the statement of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan that its website had mentioned that the proceeds from gold smuggling were being used by banned organisations in the state.
The statement issued by the media centre, which is attached to the office of the state police chief, denied carrying such an information on its website.
“It’s clarified that the official website of the Kerala Police has never carried any such statement at any point of time. It has published only statistical details of seizure of gold and currency with period-wise details,” the statement read.
The police headquarters issued a rejoinder after the governor on Wednesday alleged that the police website had mentioned that “money from these crimes is being used to fund banned organisations.”
The governor had also alleged that the chief minister kept him in the dark over the matter and gave a belated response to his communique seeking information on alleged anti-national activities being taking place in the state.
The governor had added that he wanted to know the nature of such activities and the identity of the individuals and organisations, who were involved.
What prompted the governor to open a new war front with the CM was the latter’s statements given to the media during his press briefing on September 21 and the controversial interview that came in a national daily later, where the CM reportedly said that the proceeds from gold smuggling were used to fuel anti-national activities.
As the remarks in the interview created a ruckus, the CM claimed to have never made such a statement, while the newspaper that carried the interview said the statement was provided to them by the PR agency that arranged the interview.
The daily’s version further pushed the CM and the government to the corner as the Opposition questioned whether the CM was taking assistance of PR agencies and what was the necessity to hire one to arrange interview in a national daily.