NIA questions Kerala IG over his controversial visit

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has been assigned to look into the matter by the Centre, has questioned Inspector General of Police Tomin J Thachankary thrice, official sources said, adding that a team of the probe agency is likely to visit Qatar for recording statements of officials at the Indian Mission there.

The NIA will file its report soon after recording the statement of the Indian Ambassador to Qatar, Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, the sources said.The Centre had ordered through investigations after it received a report from its Qatar mission as well as from other security agencies about the alleged misconduct of Thachankary.

According to reports, Thachankary, a 1987 batch IPS officer, had allegedly met some persons in Qatar who are said to have terror links. The charges were, however, refuted by the officer.

The reports had claimed that Thachankary met some Keralites allegedly having terror links in the Gulf and offered to help them return to their home state.The External Affairs Ministry had passed on this information to the Home Ministry which had asked the state government to carry-out investigations in the matter.

Thachankary was suspended when he was IG (Kannur) some months back for making a foreign trip allegedly without government permission in violation of the service rules.
Earlier also, he was suspended following a case relating to amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. However, he was re-instated following a High Court order as the vigilance probe in the case kept dragging on.