Thiruvananthapuram/Kozhikode: DGP Loknath Behera has ordered a Crime Branch probe into the complaint that 33 policemen of Bekal police station in Kasargod, who were on election duty on April 23, were not allotted postal ballots.
A special team of the Crime Branch is already inquiring into the allegations regarding the malpractices in the postal ballots of policemen in other parts of the state. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty in the matter, said Mr Behera in a statement here on Sunday.
A policeman associated with the Bekal station had filed a complaint that 33 policemen were not given an opportunity to vote.
As many as 44 cops of the station were assigned election duty on April 23. All had applied for postal ballots well before April 12 but only 11 policemen, including the CI, were issued postal ballots.
Though this was pointed out in a complaint given to the district collector four days ago, no action was taken. However, the collector stated that all those who had sought postal votes were allowed to vote.
Earlier, it was found in the investigation that there were widespread irregularities in the postal votes collected from Attingal, Kollam, Alathur, Vadakara, Kannur and Kasaragod constituencies. Hundreds of ballots were sent to the same address by post. According to reports, 90 percent of the 56,000 police officials cast their votes, but the majority of the votes were allegedly cast by association leaders. Following this, the police chief had ordered an Intelligence probe.
Meanwhile, a special police team headed by ASP Aravind Sukumar conducted a lightning raid at the Armed Reserve Camp in Kannur on Sunday as per the orders of IG M.R. Ajithkumar. The ASP had received a tip-off that postal ballots were hidden at the AR camp. Though the team checked the toilets and rooms, no abandoned ballots were found, according to sources.
