CAG report on missing guns expected to create stir in upcoming Kerala Assembly session

The upcoming 27-days Kerala Assembly Session beginning from March 2, is expected to witness a heated discussion between the ruling and the opposition bench over an incriminating CAG report on state police.

The 2013-18 CAG report was presented in the Kerala Assembly in February by the ruling Left government headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The controversial report has highlighted missing guns and cartridges, misuse of funds, and diversion of funds.

The CAG report also includes the name of State police chief Loknath Behra. The report also points to alleged collusion between Keltron, a state public sector company, and police in the latter's purchases.

According to the sources, state police chief DGP Behra has also approached Chief Minister Vijayan and has asked for his permission to initiate a thorough probe at the police headquarters to find out if any insider was involved in leaking the information to the media. Ever since the controversy has broken out, the Opposition Parties in the state have been demanding CM Vijayan's role to be investigated. 

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What can be expected out of the Kerala Assembly session? 

Amid the ongoing controversy over the CAG report, CM Vijayan and DGP Behra have not issued any official statements. On the opening day itself, over two dozen starred and unstarred questions on the CAG report have been listed. 

It is also speculated that Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan will be the centre of attention during the session. During last month's session, the opposition bench had turned against the Speaker for allegedly playing hide and seek with the ruling government. 

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Congress demands Kerala DGP's removal

Ramesh Chennithala, Leader of Opposition also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanding a probe into the alleged corrupt deals of Kerala Police, revealed in the CAG report.

Chennithala has called it an issue about state security and slammed the chief minister for his silence on it, however, CM Vijayan has said that he will respond to it during the upcoming assembly session. Congress has demanded the removal of DGP Loknath Behera and also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the purchase of VVIP bulletproof vehicles by the state police.

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About the CAG report 

A CAG report has found that 25 rifles and 12,061 live cartridges were "missing" from the possession of Kerala's Special Armed Police Battalion (SAPB). It also said that the state police duped the funds allocated for the modernization of forces and used on buying luxury cars for senior officers instead of procuring vehicles for police stations.

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(With ANI inputs)