Director General of Police (Prisons) Alexander Jacob has been removed from his post following his controversial remarks related to the Facebook postings of a few of the undertrials in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case.
Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) T.P. Senkumar has been given full additional charge of DGP (Prisons).
A government order announcing the shifting came soon after the rejection of Mr. Jacob’s explanation and apology sent earlier in the day in response to the Home Minister’s notice on the issue.
No option The government had no option but to shift the senior police officer as the demand for action against him had acquired political connotation in the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) with Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan being targeted.
The Home Minister had expressed his displeasure at some of his remarks to the media related to the undertrials’ postings on the social network site and a meeting between CPI (M) MLA K.K. Lathika and her husband, P Mohanan, an accused in the case.
Mr. Jacob, in his reply, said he was withdrawing the two controversial remarks, besides tendering an apology.
However, this was rejected by the Home Department. The order came into force after the Chief Minister put his signature on the relevant file.
The Home Minister said in Kottayam that Mr. Jacob had said in his explanation that the media interaction was forced upon him as mediapersons were waiting from 10 a.m. till 2.30 p.m. when he decided to meet them.
Asked about the allegations raised against him by his colleagues, Mr Radhakrishnan said he, as Home Minister, was implementing the policies of the government.
Reacting to a question, the Home Minister echoed the words of Mr. Jacob when he said the Jail Warders faced an unenviable situation as, often, the convicts and undertrials threatened them.
He also repeated the sentiments expressed by Mr. Jacob that the Prisons Department was facing an acute dearth of personnel to man the jails as there were only 700-odd officials to take care of the 7,000-odd convicts and undertrials.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said strong steps would be taken to ascertain why the Intelligence report on the security situation in the prisons was not implemented at the Kozhikode prison.
Another investigation is already under way, under the leadership of Shanker Reddy, ADGP, (North Zone), on the issue of a mobile phone kept by Kirmani Manoj, the accused in the T.P. Chandrasekiharan murder case, he said.
The Home Minister said it was under directive from the State Human Rights Commission that 35 out of the 90 CC TV cameras were dismantled from the Kozhikode district jail.
Most of the photos uploaded on social network sites were taken from the areas once covered by the dismantled cameras, he added.
