​Police dismantle Rural Tiger Force

KOCHI: In the backdrop of the custodial death of Sreejith SR of Varapuzha after he was nabbed from his house by members of the

Rural Tiger Force

(RTF),

Ernakulam

rural police have dismantled the special squad which was functioning under SP AV

George

.

The members of the RTF have been sent back to armed reserve (AR) camp and will no longer function as squad members, official sources said.

Confirming the development, sources with the state police chief ’s office said RTF was not officially constituted by state police.

“It has been dismantled by the Ernakulam rural district police chief (DPC), SP AV George who informally constituted the squad to curb goonda menace and narcotics problem in the district,” sources said.

Meanwhile, sources with the rural police said that the decision to dismantle the unit was taken after the SP and the squad members held a discussion at the rural police headquarters.

Jithin Raj, Santosh Kumar and Sumesh were the policemen who had nabbed Sreejith. They were AR camp police officers attached with the RTF. The Rural SP was quick to suspend the three officers after the local residents protested with the body of Sreejith blocking the National Highway.

It was learnt that the squad members were irate about the rural SP not taking an effort to defend the squad which takes directions only from the district police chief.

“The officers met with the DPC and expressed their discomfort working as squad members after the suspension of the three members. The decision to dismantle the force was taken subsequently,” said an officer with the rural police adding that the special squad was involved in curbing goonda menace in areas like Kalady.

When asked about the suspended officers being members of SP’s squad, the DPC had told media earlier that the entire district police force was his squad suggesting the non-existence of a special squad.

However, the rural SP have granted at least six good service entries to the Rural Tiger Force, a ten-member squad, for outstanding performance in detecting narcotics cases in the past one year. The Rural SP had announced the formation of the special squad on the lines of

City Task Force

of the Kochi city police in January 2017 soon after he took over as the DPC.

SP had then announced special training of the wing and asked special branch to prepare a list of history-sheeters and goons in the region to be handed-over to the special squad.

AV George was unavailable for comment.

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