LDF independent legislator P.V. Anvar appeared to put the government in a spot on Sunday by dropping accusations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s political secretary P. Sasi and Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, M.R. Ajith Kumar.
Mr. Anvar unspooled his catalogue of grave accusations against the two officials at a press conference in Malappuram, sensationalised by the release of secretly recorded telephone calls with police officers.
The legislator accused Mr. Sasi of overlooking the red flags that should have alerted the government and the CPI(M) to Mr. Kumar’s alleged “wrongdoings, criminality, corruption”. Mr. Anvar also played a telephone recording in which a “ranking officer” claimed that Mr. Kumar’s “bonding” with Mr. Sasi allowed the ADGP “to exert a stranglehold over the police force and act with impunity.”
‘Ill-gotten wealth’
Mr. Anvar identified the speaker as Sujith Das, the District Police Chief of Pathanamthitta. Mr. Das had yet to deny the accusation. Mr. Anvar attempted to link the ADGP with gold smugglers and behind-the-scenes business interests. He accused Mr. Kumar of hoarding ill-gotten wealth.
He likened Mr. Kumar to Dawood Ibrahim, a mob boss. Mr. Anvar said he would risk death to tell Mr. Vijayan the truth. Mr. Anvar also accused Mr. Kumar of ordering phone taps on Ministers, legislators and politicians. The MLA also played a telephone recording in which a person, allegedly Mr. Das, pleads with him to stop pursuing the custodial death of a youth, Jiffri, in the Tanur police station in May.
The MLA said plainclothes squads under Mr. Kumar’s direct control regularly ambushed gold smugglers with the ‘tacit connivance’ of Customs officials, away from the airport cameras, to share spoils secretly.
‘Derailed LIFE Mission’
Mr. Anvar said Mr. Kumar’s actions had caused disaffection among the police rank and file. Moreover, under the ADGP’s watch, the police worked overtime to alienate the public from the LDF. “The police have derailed LIFE Mission housing project for the poor in Malappuram by cracking down on minimal excavation of laterite for making bricks. In Arikode, the police slapped non-bailable charges on CPI(M) workers who prevented miscreants from disrupting the Navakerala Sadas meeting,” he said.
Mr. Anvar said he undertook personal risk, invested much treasure, and went the extra mile to expose the clique that seemed hell-bent on undermining the LDF’s public support. Mr. Kumar, who had earned the government’s praise for spearheading search and rescue operations in landslide-hit Wayanad, had yet to respond to the accusations, possibly due to his post’s officially punctilious nature and restraint mandated by all-India service rules.
