Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch will take over the probe into the death of 32-year-old Sanalkumar who was run over by a speeding vehicle when he was pushed by Neyyatinkara DySP B Harikumar during a heated argument over the parking of Sanal's car. The investigation will now be headed by Crime Branch ADGP Sheikh Dervesh Saheb.

Harikumar was promptly suspended, and a murder case had been slapped against him. The suspended DySP has been absconding for nearly two days.

The recommendation for a CB probe was made by Rural SP P Ashok Kumar in a report submitted to DGP Loknath Behra. The decision comes soon after the family of the victim expressed serious doubts about the police investigation. “I have lost complete faith in the police,” Sanalkumar's wife Viji said. The district unit of the BJP too had aggressively taken up the issue and had alleged that both the police and the ruling CPM were trying to protect the accused. The party had even said that the accused was in constant touch with top CPM leaders in the district, including its district secretary Anavur Nagappan.

Rural SP Ashok Kumar said that since a senior police officer was involved it would be appropriate for a higher agency to take over the probe. “Moreover, there is a circular issued in 2010 that mandates that such cases involving top police officials should be probed by the Crime Branch,” Ashok Kumar told Onmanorama. “My recommendation for a CB probe was based on these two points,” he said.

The family of the victim was worried that the police had still not issued a look out notice against the DySP. They consider this as a sign that the police were working overtime to protect the accused. The police version is that the DySP's passport would have to be first confiscated to issue the notice. Search teams of the police have still not been able to get hold of Harikumar's passport.

Police sources said that Harikumar had been given one more day to surrender. "He has been told, through his close friends and relatives, that it would be better for him to surrender as early as he could," a top police source said. More than 10 police teams have been formed, each given specific tasks, to track down Harikumar and Biju, the jeweller who is said to have whisked away the policeman from the scene of the crime. On a tip off, one of the teams has rushed to Madurai in neighboring Tamil Nadu.

There is a concern that the accused might secure bail as the police keep delaying his arrest.