Terror probe: Centre flayed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Tuesday criticised the Central government stand on the investigation into terrorism-related cases in Kerala.

In an article released for publication here, the Minister said the Centre had declined the States request for a CBI inquiry into the larger conspiracy behind the Marad massacre. It was also reluctant to entrust the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with the investigation of the detection of explosives in a train in Kerala and attempt to sabotage a train at Nilambur recently. On the other hand, the NIA had taken over cases which were under investigation by the State police without the consent of the State government. Those were cases in which the State police had identified the accused.

He said the LDF governments had always been taking effective steps against extremists. The LDF had formed a special squad for investigating such cases between 1996 and 2001. But, the UDF that came to power in 2001 did not follow up the investigations as it had come to power with the support of extremists. It withdrew cases against NDF activists, including one charged against the attempt to murder the former Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar. Subsequent developments such as bomb blasts were not properly investigated, he alleged. The present government, on the other hand, had formed an internal security investigation team under Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Siby Mathews to investigate terrorism-related cases.