COIMBATORE: After the Karnataka's police's search-and-arrest operation in Salem was mistaken as abduction and resulted in inter-departmental tension, officials of the West Zone Police have pointed out that their counterparts had failed to follow due procedure and keep the local forces informed.
The operation should take the suspects by surprise and not the local police, they say.
The reaction comes in the wake of two such incidents -- Karnataka police's operation in Salem on December 8 and Kerala's police work in Pollachi on December 4.
In Salem, police in plainclothes took a man into custody at gunpoint in public view. A bystander called it in as an abduction.
It was only after local police apprehended the team that they found them to be counterparts from Karnataka.
In the second case, an armed team had conducted a search at the house of a person believed to have been involved in a cheating case in Kerala. In both cases, the local police were not informed.
A senior police official in Coimbatore range points out that officers from another State can arrest a person here, given that the person has been found to have links to a cognizable crime in their State.
If the arrested person cannot be brought back within 24 hours (excluding travel time), they have to be produced in a court and a transit remand obtained for them. The local police must be informed through the process, the official explains.
Additional Deputy General of Police (Law and Order) K Jayanath Murali says that the Salem and Pollachi incidents, if they happened as narrated, are illegal, adding that the CrPC clearly lays out the terms and conditions of operations in another State.
Inspector-General of Police (West Zone) K Periaiah notes that local police can even file cases against their counterparts from other states if the latter failed to stick to the procedure.
However, a few officials claim that Tamil Nadu police too have carried out operations in other states without informing the local authorities. If the suspect has a good rapport with the local police, it will be difficult to catch them, they point out.