Thachankary is Marketfed MD

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kicking off a fresh controversy, IG Tomin J Thachankary, the controversial IPS officer who is facing a probe by the National Investigation Agency, was posted as the Managing Director of Marketfed by the UDF Govt on Friday.The move is on the premise that the Finance Ministry has made it clear that salaries could not be disbursed to the officer as long as he is not given any posting. He was in service without duty, after his reinstatement following a long spell of suspension. Even as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy insisted that a vigilance and NIA probe would not make an officer ineligible for a posting, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan demanded that the state government should make it clear whether the Union Home Ministry has cleared Thachankary from various charges.The officer is facing allegations like holding discussions with anti-national forces abroad, indulging in smuggling and acquiring wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, Achuthanandan said.He said that when he was reinstated in service a few months ago, Chandy had claimed that it was on the basis of a directive from the Union Home Ministry, but Union Minister Mullappally Ramachandran had maintained that it was not true.On Achuthanandan and Congress leader V M Sudheeran coming out against the appointment, Thachankary said, “They have all the right to make statements.I would do my duty as a government servant.” Thachankary said he would take charge on Saturday at the Marketfed office in Kochi.