Warring top Kerala Police officers a bother for CM Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 23 The warring top Kerala Police officers have become a major concern for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who is also the state Home Minister.

Two top police officials both holding the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) M.R. Ajithkumar and P. Vijayan have been at war for a while now which has taken a turn for the worse when the latter gave a complaint against the former to the state police chief ( SPC).

In his complaint, P. Vijayan said action should be taken against Ajithkumar for giving a false statement that he along with a few police officials attached to the Anti-Terror Squad has been engaged in gold smuggling in and around the Kozhikode International Airport.

The SPC, Sheikh Darvesh Saheb, after going through the complaint since it involves two high-ranking junior colleagues of his, has sent P. Vijayan’s complaint to the Home department for appropriate action.

Incidentally, the two top officials for a while have not had good relations as it was based on the report of Ajithkumar that P.Vijayan, when he was an IGP, was suspended from service after he was alleged to have given out crucial information to the media about a case.

But P. Vijayan got a clean chit when a fresh probe revealed that he was innocent and was not only reinstated but also given a promotion to the rank of ADGP.

The latest episode comes at a time when the race for the new SPC has already begun as Saheb is due to retire in a few months.

Those who are expected to be on the list, which will be sent to the Centre, for the selection by a panel include Revadha Chandrasekhar (if he decides to return to Kerala), Nithin Agarwal and Yogesh Gupta.

But with two officials in the rank of DGP, including Saheb and Padmakumar, due to superannuation shortly, two more officials depending on their seniority are likely to come into the panel that the state government will submit to the Centre. It could include Manoj Abraham, the present officer who is in charge of law and order.

With the complaint being filed, CM Vijayan and his home department could be in a tight spot as it sits down to look into the plea against Ajithkumar and also to prepare the list to be sent to the Centre.

Source: IANS