Six cops suspended for leaking raid information to sand mafia in Kasaragod

Kasaragod: Kasaragod District Police Chief B V Vijaya Bharath Reddy suspended six officers attached to Kumbla Police Station for allegedly leaking operational information to sand-smuggling networks.

The suspensions come after investigators uncovered what appears to be a systematic flow of intelligence from the police station to illegal sand transporters operating in riverine zones.

The suspended officers are senior civil police officers P M Abdul Salam, A K Vinod Kumar, and Linesh; civil police officers A M Manu and M K Anoop; and police jeep driver Krishnaprasad. Five of them are posted at Kumbla; one had been transferred earlier.

Illegal sand mining is reported from several river systems in the district, but is rampant in the Mogral river, which flows between the Kumbla panchayat and Kasaragod municipality, the Shriya river in Kumbla, and the coastal stretch in Manjeshwar, said Reddy. Multiple special squads work in tandem to crack down on the smugglers, he said. "We frequently raid ghats and seize boats and trucks," said the District Police Chief.

But several operations were coming up empty-handed, often after specific intelligence he received had been shared for field action, he said. "It was becoming clear that there were leaks at the station level," Reddy said.

Another officer said Kumbla station was "notorious" for the nexus with sand-lifting networks. "So we had been watching closely," he said.

The trigger came last month with the arrest of a tipper lorry driver, Moideen, for illegal transport of sand. An analysis of the driver's phone and call record revealed that he was in regular contact with the suspended officers from Kumbla station. "There is concrete evidence of the officers passing information to the driver," said Reddy.

He, however, added that they had yet to land any evidence of financial transactions between the mafia and the police officers.

The nexus was first brought to the notice of the higher-ups by Kumbla Sub-Inspector Sreejesh. He submitted a report to Kasaragod DySP C K Sunil Kumar. Following a preliminary probe, the findings were forwarded to Reddy.

The District Police Chief issued the suspension orders late Wednesday night, after the officers had completed their shifts and returned home.

He said a departmental inquiry has been ordered to get to the bottom of these relationships. The inquiry is conducted by special mobile squad DySP Varghese Alexander. The connection between the suspended officers and the driver has been established beyond doubt, Reddy said. The inquiry will now determine the extent of collusion.

"Depending on the findings of the inquiry, the officers could face penalties ranging from withholding of increments for up to three years to dismissal from service," the District Police Chief said.

As of now, no evidence has emerged pointing to similar information leaks from other police stations in the district. But the police are not ruling out the possibility of wider links.

Meanwhile, police said the crackdown on sand smuggling continued across the limits of Kasaragod, Kumbla, and Manjeshwar police stations. During recent inspections, sand-filled sacks and boats used for transportation were seized from riverbanks. Over the past month, more than 3,000 sacks of sand and at least 10 boats have been confiscated, said District Police Chief Reddy.