Thiruvananthapuram: Hectic lobbying by senior police officers is reportedly underway to become the next Director General of Police (DGP) of Kerala as the incumbent Loknath Behera, IPS, is set to retire shortly. Tomin J Thachankary and Sudesh Kumar of the Indian Police Service are front-runners to bag the coveted post, though DGP (Prisons) Rishi Raj Singh is the senior-most officer after Behera.
Behera is likely taking up an assignment in Delhi. His name has been included in the panel of officers for the post of next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
As the race hots up, the backers of the DGP hopefuls are making shrewd moves to pip the rival. Thachankary on his part wants to make the path smoother and requested for the expedition of a probe into a Vigilance case against him. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan concurred and ordered the probe. A direction has been given to complete the probe at the earliest.
If the court accepts the report and expedites the probe then Thachankary stands a better chance to get the top post. On the other hand the rival camp wants the government to consider Sudesh Kumar if Thachankary's plea is not accepted by the court.
Thachankary, who is of the 1987 IPS batch, was promoted to the rank of DGP in September 2020.
Endorsement for Behera
Meanwhile, the Kerala government has handed over the Vigilance clearance certificate of Behera to the Centre. Though the new CBI director was appointed last month, he has just one month service left. Behera is retiring on June 30 and jail DGP Rishiraj Singh will attain superannuation on July 30. Singh has not been included in the panel from which the new DGP is selected.
Appointment process
As per the procedure, the panel of names for selecting the DGP needs to be prepared three months before the incumbent retires and forwarded to the central government. After examining the list, the centre will return a short-list of three officers who have two years of service left and no cases pending against them. Subsequently, the state government will pick one of the officers from the three- member panel approved by the centre.
Behera's options
If Behera fails to make it to CBI director's post then the state government has a Plan-B for him. It is considering him for the post of the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL). But the only hitch is that the incumbent CMD V J Kurien is scheduled to retire after assembly polls. In this backdrop the government is contemplating various options to ensure that their close confidante Behera is accommodated in a suitable post.
Meanwhile, factions within the IPS fraternity have started rooting for first their favourite person for the post of the DGP.