As the allegations of patronising and helping the Naxalite-turned-informer-turned gangster Nayeem have caused disquiet among many senior serving and retired police officers and the Special Investigation Team is toying with the idea of questioning those whose names were mentioned in his diary, a senior retired officer admitted that Nayeem had supported the police in anti-Naxal operations.
Sriram Tiwari, who had led anti-Naxal operations at the peak of left Wing Extremism in Andhra Pradesh in the ’90s and headed the anti- Naxal Special Investigation Bureau said that relations between Nayeem and his department were professional and there was nothing personal about it.
As rumours abound of many police officials using Nayeem for their personal gains, including land deals, extortions and settlements, Tiwari strongly denied any such links with him. “I never met him after 2000 when I was transferred out of SIB”, he told the media.
Tiwari said that the Intelligence department had used Nayeem’s services and paid him. “I met him a couple of times for professional reasons, nothing beyond that”, he said.
Though it is well known in police and Government circles that Nayeem had turned informer and extending help in eliminating top Maoists, it is for the first time that a top police official has revealed the facts.
Admitting that he met Nayeem and discussed with him Naxalite activity and that he was also in touch with the other officers of SIB, Tiwari refused to divulge details of those discussions and the nature of help Nayeem had provided. “It will be unprofessional to reveal it”, he said.
He rued that some officials in the department were trying to malign him by spreading the falsehoods about his links with Nayeem.