Following the complaints, the police started screening the employees of a private bus in Kochi to check the antecedents of the crime

Police have started checking the personal details of private bus employees in Kochi, Keralam, in a special effort to weed out people with criminal antecedents from the public service sector amid a flood of complaints. According to police sources, the traffic department of the police has handed over the details of around 100 private bus employees to the district special branch for verification.

Employee data is collected in a special form that is distributed to bus operators. Details including address, license number and Aadhaar number were retrieved through the form. Bus operators were invited to hand in the completed forms to the relevant traffic police offices by September 24. Two photos of employees must be attached to the forms.

“So far, we have received about 100 forms and they have been forwarded for verification. Once the verification is done, the police will issue separate identity cards to those with a clear history. After the process, only employees with valid identity cards issued by the police will be allowed to work in buses operating services in the city,” said a senior police officer. He said the details of those recommending employees for bus deployment would also be verified.

The verification process was initiated based on a decision taken at a meeting convened by District Superintendent of Police (Kochi City) S. Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar with representatives of private bus operators’ associations and employees earlier this month. He then said that the police planned to complete the process of issuing identity cards within two weeks.

KB Suneer, president of Ernakulam Private Bus Operators Association, said that employees working on around 1,200 buses in the city will undergo verification. “Several people involved in some criminal cases will have to be sent out of the sector after verification. We have fully supported the efforts of the police to rid the sector of criminal elements,” he said.

The police have launched the verification drive following a series of law and order issues involving private bus employees in the city in recent times.

Published – 19 Sep 2026 13:33 IST