As the former Kochi city police commissioner and later state police chief, Loknath Behera ushered in sweeping reforms in policing. He is now scripting another success story at the helm of Kochi Metro.
After successfully leading Kochi Metro to operational profitability, he is now guiding the Water Metro, which is gaining international attention.
He also had a notable stint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and was one of the founding members of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Behera was recently in the news following India’s successful extradition of Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He was earlier part of the investigative team that interrogated David Coleman Headley, the key conspirator behind the attacks.
In a candid conversation with TNIE, Behera opens up about his journey, national security, Kochi Metro, city nostalgia, and more.
Before taking charge of the Kochi Metro, you had a long association with Kochi as the city police commissioner… Could you recall your early days here?
My career started with a posting as the assistant police commissioner, in Thrikkakara. I never even imagined that I would become the city police commissioner later. I served as the commissioner from 1991 to 1995. It was an honour as I was the youngest ever to be posted as the city commissioner back then.
During that time, there were issues like hooliganism, goonda activities, and all such things. We handled that firmly. We acted tough against the goons. One highlight during my tenure in Kochi was deployment of police vehicles on the road round the clock. We used to call them Flying Squads. Subsequently, they became the Control Room Vehicles (CRV). The response time of the police improved.
What about the drug menace?
At that time, in the ’90s, the biggest problem here was cannabis — not the synthetic drugs you hear about these days. Now there is a DANSAF (District Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force) team in every district. But back then, Kochi was the only city to have an anti-drugs squad. We also took efforts to rehabilitate the addicts. Today, I am especially worried about the youngsters falling prey to drugs. All of us have some kind of role to play to rein in the menace. Societal response is key. Also, I always say, don’t hate a drug addict. We should treat him as a patient.
On the other hand, suppliers should not be spared. Synergy between the police and excise is vital. Now people say that people sell these kinds of stuff in the darknet also, so continuous monitoring of the same is required, which the police are capable of. The city police, for instance, has a cyber dome at Infopark. The problem is that sometimes the police get distracted due to other things happening – VIP visits, functions, major festivals, etc. They also have to maintain law and order. Dedicated officers handling the cyber division or drugs menace should be allowed to focus on those issues.
As a former DGP, are you satisfied with police visibility in the city?
Frankly, we (police) are much fewer in number than what’s ideally needed. Visibility is becoming lesser because of the inadequacy in number. Let’s take Delhi, it has about one lakh police officers for a population of around 1.5 crore, which is close to international standards. Kerala, on the other hand, has over 3.7 crore people — but only 60,000-plus police personnel.
Urban areas like Kochi have seen population booms. Officers often have to multitask — managing law enforcement, traffic, law and order, investigations, and more. They would like to have at least 10,000 more police personnel to meet the workload. But no government can afford to recruit at that scale. Hence, we must rely on technology like CCTV cameras. Now, it is said a single camera is equal to 10 policemen.
Now, we are actually thinking about drone surveillance, like in Mexico city. Drones can monitor large areas and alert about suspicious activity. Recently, in Chennai, a murder suspect was identified and arrested within 30 minutes using drone footage. We need similar systems in Kochi. Use of technology can be a great force-multiplier.
Another major contribution you made was starting an NIA office in Kochi... Was there any specific threat perception?
Not really. When we started the NIA, we got more cases from Kerala, including that palm-chopping case, that Binanipuram case, the Kashmir case. If I am correctly remembering, of 20 cases we were investigating, 11 were from Kerala (rough estimate). At that time, we had only two offices — Delhi and Hyderabad. So, we decided to start a satellite office of the Hyderabad unit here. Subsequently, it became a full-fledged branch, or what’s called a field office.
It has served a good purpose. I can say with the help of ATS, which also I had started in Kerala, the state’s security scenario is good.
Wouldn’t it have been alarming that such a high number of cases were coming up from one particular state?
Kerala registers the maximum number of FIRs in the country. That’s why some people say that it is the ‘crime capital’, but that’s not the case. Here, if you go to the police station, they will register a case if it is an offence. But maybe in many places, they don’t do it. When I used to go for DGPs’ meetings, people used to remark: “Hey, how many cases from Kerala! You are registering more cases than UP and MP…” I would say yes, and that I took pride in it.
Similarly, it was the disposition of the people here that they wanted certain cases to be probed from a national security angle. So cases having national security implications were handed over to the NIA.
Tahawwur Rana, wanted in the Mumbai attack case, is now in NIA custody. You were one of the officers who interrogated David Headley, who was one of the 26/11 conspirators...
Headley was arrested by the Americans, the FBI. They investigated his role in a planned attack in Copenhagen. Then he was prosecuted for giving material support to the Mumbai attackers. But in that case, he got acquitted. But he made some revelations. We had a diplomatic victory by getting access to him. He told us most of the things that you people know now. The Headley interrogation report is in the public domain, and anybody can download that. He has not only talked about Mumbai, but he has also talked about many other things. So, that gave us a good perspective about terrorist networks.
He spoke about Rana as well. We were unable to extradite Headley because he did a plea bargain as per American law. Now, Rana is a big catch. His interrogation is crucial. He might reveal something that we do not know already. What if Rana reveals he had somebody else who helped him? He came to stay, for example, in Kochi. He even put a job recruitment ad in a newspaper.
Did Headley visit Kochi?
No.
The Abhimanyu murder happened when you were DGP. A student was stabbed to death on Maharaja’s College campus, but the main accused has still not been caught…
There were some rumours that he had fled India. That makes it complex. But if you see the record of Kerala police, culprits have been brought to justice even after 15 or 20 years.
During your time as DGP, you had initiated concepts such as humanless and paperless police stations. What’s the status of that?
I was trying to replicate a model I saw in Dubai, where they have these smart police stations without manpower. I opened two here — one in Kochi and the other in Thiruvananthapuram. But they did not take off as people who go to the police want to physically talk to officers.
Such innovations are needed. For example, we have over 900 panchayats. At present, we have about 500 police stations. So, ideally, another 400-450 stations are needed to match the people’s aspirations. This is not easy. But we can use technology solutions. With the kind of internet connectivity in Kerala, the state will embrace this concept.
Kochi recently saw a police crackdown on illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. How big is the issue?
Most of the workers in Kerala, from petrol bunks to beauty parlours, are migrant labourers, or ‘guest workers’. Kerala, to them, is how the Gulf has been for Malayalis. But the issue is when illegal immigrants enter in disguise. So the police should be alert. Now, the labour department is thinking of a digital registration system.
These illegal immigrants manage to get fake documents, including Aadhaar cards....
That is a big story (smiles). Every system has got a flip side. This should not be happening, but the reality is that it does. The solution is to detect them and to take legal action.
Are these fake documents made in Kerala or other states like Bengal?
I do not know that exactly. I guess it happens everywhere. We are concerned about anti-national elements infiltrating along with those coming to make a living.
Reckless driving by private buses is now a major issue in Kochi…
This was the case even during my tenure (laughs). Kochi should shift toward electric buses, like Delhi has done. KMRL runs 15 such feeder buses, and we are considering the addition of 20 more. Kochi’s public transport network should be modernised by inducting technologically-advanced buses that look good. I am not saying private buses should be done away with. But the bus transport system can be more organised with the aid of technology. Just think of a rickety bus going at high speed. What will a person who is visiting Kochi think? The optics have to be good.
Talking of optics, there was a buzz about developing the area near Chilavannoor-Bund Road bridge into a tourist spot like Marine Drive?
Yes, that’s the plan. We are thinking of how to do this cost-effectively with minimal land acquisition. We are considering a cantilever bridge, for which we won’t need to take anybody’s land.
Similarly, KMRL’s tram project has also generated a lot of interest...
This has been done in some parts of the world like Zurich and Brisbane. There are several parts in the city, like from Thevara to Marine Drive, that’s not connected by the Metro Rail. So there was a suggestion to introduce trams. At a time, about 100-150 can travel in them. In other places, like Brisbane, the tram routes are on the road. This is not possible here. So we are studying whether we can have an elevated tram network. We need to do a feasibility study first.
What’s the current ridership status?
In the case of Metro Rail, we see an average of one lakh per day. For Water Metro, it is only about 8,000 as we have limited routes. We have only 20 boats now. If we have 78 boats, as we had planned initially, daily ridership will go up to 50,000. The Water Metro has been quite successful. Our model is being replicated in 21 other places, including Mumbai, Goa and Guwahati, Kolkata, Srinagar. Even the foreign governments have shown interest in the Kochi model.
So, overall, are you happy with the shift to this sustainable transport model in the city?
I am happy, yes. But I want to improve the first-mile/last-mile connectivity. We are working on that. How does a person staying in Cheranallur come to the Edappally metro station? If driving, where will one park the car? These are the issues we are trying to address.
Also there is the ‘walkability’ factor of Kochi. In many global cities, people don’t mind walking a couple of kilometres to, say, a subway station. Here there seems to be a hesitation to walk...
We have built 50km of footpaths. Of that, only about 10km is effectively used on a daily basis. All these footpaths lead to metro stations. We have tried to beautify footpaths, make them as wide as in Europe or other countries. We have put railings for safety… Yet the infra remains underutilised. Some youngsters do use them. But the others seem to be lazy, or have some kind of a mind block. Now many of the footpaths are used for parking vehicles or placing ad boards of shops. We have urged the police to act against this. Crores of rupees have been spent for making these footpaths.
Walking is actually good for health, good for all of us. The more you walk, it is better for yourself and the city. Maybe we should have a footpath campaign through the media. We need to promote a good walking culture.
What are your views on the Kochi canal rejuvenation project? The other day, the mayor expressed concern whether it can actually be realised...
He has a point. Making all canals navigable might not be as easy as it sounds. My target was the Edappally canal. That can be completely navigable by the kind of vessels Water Metro uses. Other canals are narrow, and then you have bridges over them… the boats will not be able to pass under those. However, I am an optimist. Maybe in 10 years, we can make the other canals also navigable by raising the height of the bridges, using smaller boats… But at present, we don’t have a plan. I leave it for the future. Let people work on it for sometime.
Any fond memories from your early days in Kochi?
My philosophy was to lead from the front. Be out there. There was a notorious goonda in the city. Many were scared to act against him because of his ‘connections’. So, one night, I went alone to his den and arrested him. Then I personally signed the remand report, so he did not get bail.
There were smaller cases. For example, during those days, there were complaints about some shopkeepers at Broadway cheating customers by using false weights. So, one day, I went incognito, pretending to buy goods and caught a seller red-handed. I think he used a magnet to manipulate the weighing scale.
One of my finest experiences was to fast-track the construction of the Regional Sports Centre, Kadavanthra. I was asked by the then honourable chief minister (K Karunakaran) to revive the project, which had been stalled for years.
Similar was the case of the Kaloor stadium. Joseph Thomas, who was the chairman of GCDA, asked me to head the implementation committee. We completed it quickly.
I can go on… there are a lot of memories connected to Kochi. I remember once I went to Fort Kochi for the Carnival, where the then mayor K J Sohan asked me to take on a wrestler in a demo bout. Seeing him, I got worried! Fortunately, the organisers told him to go easy on me (laughs).
TNIE team: Rajesh Abraham, S Neeraj Krishna, Anu Kuruvilla, Krishna Kumar K E, Toby Antony, Mahima Anna Jacob, Abdul Nazer M A,
T P Sooraj (photos),
Harikrishna B (video)