At the end of the day, top Kerala cadre police officer Jacob Thomas has found that swimming with the sharks is easier said than done. The much-awaited release of his autobiography Swimming with the sharks failed to take place as scheduled this evening with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was supposed to release it, backing out at the last minute faced with sharp criticism from the Opposition.
Even as this afternoon, the publishers of the book were confident about the smooth conduct of the function. However, senior Congress leader K.C. Joseph threw a spanner in the works by shooting off a letter to Mr. Vijayan asking if Mr. Thomas had been granted permission under the Kerala Government Servants’ Conduct Rules and the Central The Police Force Restriction of Rights Act of 1996 to write the book, whether it had allowed him to use files and official information available to him in his official capacity to write the book and whether anyone had vetted the contents of the book.
The Chief Minister is also reported to have got wind of strong resentment among a section of the civil and police officials about his decision to release the book which, they felt, contained much that compromised the integrity of the services.
