CM told to clarify Thachankarys reinstatement

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan has asked Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to clarify the basis on which IG Tomin J Thachankary had been reinstated in service. ‘’The Chief Minister is cheating the public. He had stated in the Assembly that the Centre had directed that Thachankary’s suspension be revoked after he had been exonerated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). But the Union Minister of State for Home says that the Centre had not given any such directives,” Achuthanandan told reporters here on Thursday. ‘’Either the Chief Minister had misled the Assembly or the Union Minister of State for Home had lied,’’ he added.The Opposition Leader said he believed that the Centre would not take such a stand.  On the other hand, Achuthanandan said that the Union Home Ministry had reportedly intensified the probe against Thachankary in the backdrop of the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai.  ‘’It was the Centre which wrote to the state saying that Thachankary had met terrorists in foreign countries and that strict action should be taken against him taking into consideration the seriousness of the charge,’’ Achuthanandan said.  The Opposition Leader charged the UDF Government with aiding and abetting treason by taking back an officer accused of terrorist links even before the completion of the NIA investigation.  Achuthanadan said that the LDF Government under him had promptly written a letter to the Union Home Minister just when the state had received information about Thachankary’s terrorist links. He said he would once again write a letter to the Centre on the issue in the context of the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai.