Kerala CM rejects CBI probe over ''missing'' cartridges, rifles

The CAG report on missing rifles and live cartridges rocked the Kerala assembly on Monday as opposition Congress-led UDF insisted on a CBI probe which was rejected by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The assembly was adjourned for the day in the pre-lunch session by Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan as the United Democratic Front members stormed the Well holding banners and raising slogans after their notice for an adjournment motion on the issue was rejected.

It was first raised during the Question Hour and again by way of the adjournment motion notice, but Vijayan asserted no rifle was missing from the Special Armed Police Battalion here as found by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the cartridges were lost mainly during the previous UDF rule.

The chief minister said the Left government was viewing the matter 'seriously, adding one police official was arrested and a departmental inquiry pending against 11 others in connection with over 12,000 cartridges going missing.

"There is no relevance for a CBI probe right now. An effective and comprehensive investigation by our own agency, crime branch, is progressing...let its report come first," he said.

Replying to the notice for adjournment motion later, he said: "we don't have anything to hide. We just followed the procedures."
Hitting back, Vijayan said: "I have heard members mentioning Lavallin case here. What is it? Pinarayi Vijayan is not an accused in the case. The trial court acquitted me, the CBI went to hight court and the appeal was dismissed."