The State government on Wednesday suspended five senior police officers, including two Superintendents of Police (SPs), in connection with the Nedumbassery human trafficking case.
State Police Chief and Director General of Police (DGP) K.S. Balasubramanian said that the suspended officers were Bhuvanendran, SP, Traffic, Thiruvananthapuram South Zone; Jamaluddin, SP (Human Rights Commission); Mahesh Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch); N.V. Somarajan, Assistant Commandant, AR Camp, Malappuram; and sub-inspector George.
The DGP had earlier suspended nine policemen, including a Circle Inspector from Thottappally, a sub-inspector from Mundakkayam, a junior sub-inspector, three policemen of the Kerala Armed Police, two civil police officers, and a member of the Armed Reserve Police, in the case.
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The case will soon be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Crime Branch report
The five suspended on Wednesday, and the nine earlier, were part of a list of police officers named by the Crime Branch of the State police in a report on the case. Sub-inspector Raju Mathew and civil police officer P.A. Ajeeb were arrested earlier in separate cases related to the human trafficking controversy.
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While Mathew was arrested for his role in trafficking women for sex rackets, Ajeeb was nabbed for his role in human trafficking first and later arraigned in the sex racket case as well.
The Crime Branch, in its report, had also said that they suspected the involvement of more police officers in aiding the human trafficking racket that had allegedly been operating through the Cochin international airport at Nedumbassery, for several years.
Incidentally, the arrest of Ajeeb had come in the wake of an inquiry triggered by a report submitted by Mr. Somarajan, who was suspended on Wednesday.
The civil police officer was indicted along with 14 others in a report Mr. Somarajan, the then Assistant Commissioner of Police, Immigration, had prepared on human trafficking.