Kannur: Retired Deputy Superintendent of Police P Sukumaran -- who investigated sensational political killings of MSF leader Abdul Shukkoor and NDF activist Mohammad Fazal in which CPM leaders were charged -- joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, September 21.

Sukumaran, an exceptional investigator who retired in 2023, was always perceived by CPM's top leaders in Kannur as hostile towards them. But his shift to the saffron corner comes at a time when a section of officers in the Kerala Police force is suspected of sabotaging the Thrissur Pooram to help the BJP do better in the Lok Sabha election.

Sukumaran was welcomed into the party by BJP's National Executive Committee member Kummanam Rajasekharan at a function held at the party's district office in Kannur. BJP state secretary K Shreekanth and District President N Haridas were also present at the function.

Sukumaran made a name for himself when he busted an arms training camp run by the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) at Kannur's Narath on April 23, 2013. His team arrested 22 persons linked to the PFI or its political arm, the SDPI. Later, the NIA took over the case and secured convictions for 21 of them in September 2016.

However, in the aftermath of the arrest, one newspaper falsely accused him of blaming madrasa education for extremism in the Muslim community, triggering a short-lived controversy. But much before that, he had proved his investigation skills in the murder case of Fazal.

Mohammed Fazal, a CPM activist who joined the National Development Front (NDF), an earlier avatar of PFI, was hacked to death near Saidarpalli in Thalassery on October 22, 2006. In the initial days, DySP Sukumaran investigated the case and concluded that Fazal was murdered for leaving the CPM. He also found that his towel was dropped before the house of an RSS activist to frame him.

But Sukumaran was transferred out and DySP PP Sadanandan was given the responsibility. Back then the late CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the Home Minister. Years later, when the CBI submitted the charge sheet, it recommended action against two DySPs and one inspector for trying to frame RSS activists in the case.

CBI also charged eight CPM men, including leaders Karai Rajan and Karai Chandrasekharan and hitman Kodi Suni, with Fazal's murder.

Sukumaran was also the officer who questioned CPM state committee member P Jayarajan in the murder case of Abdul Shukkoor, a young leader of the Muslim Student Federation (MSF). He was hacked to death after a public trial at Ariyil near Pattuvam in Kannur on February 20, 2012.

Jayarajan was then the CPM's Kannur District Secretary. During his questioning at the Government Guest House in Kannur in July 2012, another senior CPM leader MV Jayarajan barged into the room and asked DySP Sukumaran whether he would thrust an iron rod into the rectum of P Jayarajan like he allegedly did to a DYFI worker KV Sumesh.

Sumesh, arrested in connection with the Shukkoor murder case, had filed a complaint against Sukumaran alleging he was brutally tortured at the Kannur police station. The Kannur City police registered a case against MV Jayarajan under Section 117(E) of the Kerala Police Act for threatening and abusing DySP Sukumaran.

In January 2015, when the Supreme Court rejected Sukumaran's petition, the CPM issued a statement asking the UDF government to take disciplinary action against the DySP. Two days ago, on September 19, the Special CBI court in Ernakulam, ordered that P Jayarajan and former MLA TV Rajesh, among others, should face trial in the Shukkoor murder case.

When contacted, Sukumaran said that he went to the BJP's office but was not keen on joining the party. "Indeed, I went there but it is not a big deal. I would not like to comment on the event," he said. A person close to Sukumaran said the CPM should answer why police officers in Kerala, where the UDF and the LDF are dominant fronts, are joining the BJP.