While DGP S S P Yadav, as head of the state police, wants to keep Octopus under his control, A K Mohanty, also a Director General-rank officer who heads Octopus, wants it to be

independent and under his control.

With the two officers shooting off letters to the Home Department, issuing memos and initiating departmental inquiries in their battle to gain control, Chief Minister Y S R Reddy recently stepped in and asked the Home Department to sort out the mess.

Things came to a head last week when Yadav issued a memo to Mohanty for not informing him about his three-day visit to New Delhi in the last week of February. This prompted Mohanty to shoot off a letter to the Home Department requesting it to get Yadav off his back.

Principal Secretary (Home) P V Naidu has called Yadav and Mohanty for a meeting this week to iron out the matter. While Home Department officials confirmed this, DGP Yadav refused to be drawn into a discussion on the issue.

Mohanty, who has reportedly asked the Home Department that the original order on formation of Octopus be amended to make it independent of the state DGP, was more forthcoming. “Everyone knows what is happening around here. I don’t want to be dragged into a discussion on this. The Principal Secretary (Home) knows everything about this,” he told The Indian Express.

The friction between the two officers started immediately after the appointment of Mohanty, then DGP (Law and Order), as head of Octopus. A 1975-batch officer, Mohanty is three years junior to DGP Yadav and the state police chief reportedly was not too pleased with the decision to keep Octopus independent of him.

There is another catch in the seniority issue. Mohanty is empanelled with the Government of India as DG, while Yadav is not, making him junior to Mohanty.

In the bad blood between the two officers, Octopus continues to bleed. The urgency to have it up and running is not lost in a state that saw two major bomb blasts in its capital last year — the Mecca Majid blast on May 18, followed by the twin blasts on August 25. While by then the government had already started scouting for personnel in various police wings for the anti-terror unit, Octopus has since remained in a state of limbo:

• It has a full-fledged DGP heading it but except for a DIG-rank officer and six assistant commandants, no personnel has been recruited. The government order issued on its formation in October 2007 sought to recruit 1,600 personnel.

• None of the special units that were to be part of Octopus, like intelligence-gathering cells, counter-terrorism squads etc, is in place.

• Octopus was supposed to receive funds from the Andhra Police to make it fully operational, but it remains woefully short on resources. Recently, while DGP Yadav attended a budget meeting, DGP Mohanty went separately and impressed upon the government to release Rs 9 crore for the organisation.

• The outfit was to be housed in a separate building and possess hi-tech equipment, data processing centres and special vehicles including for relief and rescue. These are yet to be procured.

The problem of personnel is not hard to fathom given that few are keen on transfer to a unit low on funds and resources. “Only 140 personnel have been shortlisted so far for Octopus. They will have to undergo special training before starting work,” an officer says.

“The ego clashes between the two senior police officers means work has suffered. At every stage there are hurdles and there is absolute lack of coordination and communication,” rues another senior officer, among those caught in the crossfire.