Vigilance raid at house of Kerala IG

The state Vigilance department on Thursday registered a case and raided residences of controversial IG of Police Tomin Thachankary and his close relatives.

The state Vigilance department on Thursday registered a case and raided residences of controversial IG of Police Tomin Thachankary and his close relatives. Thachankary had last hit headlines a few months ago after an anti-piracy raid that a fellow IGP led on a large audio-video company that he runs in his wife’s name.

Thachankary is known to be close to CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, and had reportedly helped Vijayan source equipment from abroad for setting up Kairali, the CPM’s TV channel. The Customs had caught his official gunman, flying in with him on a Silk Air flight from Singapore, carrying electronic video equipment worth a small fortune, but Thachankary was let off after he claimed he really had no clue why his gunman was travelling with him.

The anti-piracy raid on Thachankary’s factory, Riyan Studios, had resulted in the summary on-the-spot removal of the IGP who led the raid, Rishiraj singh, from his job. The din that it kicked up, however, had made VS Achuthanandan summon the DGP without consulting even the Home Minister, and order the officer’s reinstatement.

Sources said the Vigilance team also raided the residence of the IGP’s elder brother and businessman Tissan Thachankary and also the Riyan Studio complex on Thursday. They said the simultaneous raids produced several “significant” documents, including details of some bank accounts. They said the raids would continue over the next few days.

The state Government, meanwhile, is learnt to be considering a request from Thachankary to go on a couple of years’ leave, while it is also learnt to be weighing an interim report from the Vigilance recommending that he be kept out of state service for the moment.