Complainant against PV Anvar is ex-Congressman; KSRTC, panchayat prez his earlier targets

Kottayam: The 79-year-old man who filed the complaint against Nilambur MLA P V Anvar for tapping and leaking phone call records of senior police officers says there was no political motive behind his decision.

Thomas K Peeliyanikkal, a native of Nedumkunnam in Kottayam district who lodged the complaint against the MLA, identifies himself as a former Congress activist. Thomas said he chose to file the complaint out of his conviction that recording and leaking phone calls of police officers was a conduct unbecoming of a people’s representative.

“It is not something a public activist should do. It is against the Constitutional provisions. In my complaint, I have stated that I do not know if elected representatives have any exemption in these matters.

“Anvar not only recorded police officers’ calls but also leaked them through the media. People’s representatives are supposed to lead a model life, at least in public,” Thomas told Onmanorama.

Thomas had emailed his complaint to the state police chief on September 5, four days after TV channels aired Anvar’s phone conversation with the then Malappuram SP Sujith Das. In the leaked call, the IPS officer is heard pleading with the MLA to withdraw a complaint filed against the SP over alleged illegal tree-felling from the compound of the SP’s office.

Anvar purportedly leaked the phone call as evidence for his allegations of rot in the police system. He has also made severe allegations against ADGP (law and order) Ajith Kumar and chief minister’s political secretary P Sasi, triggering a major political controversy.

Anvar has also accused Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan of shielding the duo and severing his ties with the Left Democratic Front. Anvar won the assembly elections from Nilambur in 2016 and 2021 as a CPM-backed independent.

The Karukachal police in Kottayam district registered an FIR against Anvar based on the complaint by Thomas on September 28 after it was forwarded to the station. Thomas stays in the Karukachal station limits. The timing of the FIR raised suspicions as it came just a day before a political rally scheduled by Anvar in Nilambur.

Thomas rubbished reports of a political motive behind his complaint. On the allegations raised by Anvar against the police officers and political leaders, Thomas said the controversies would take their course, and he was only bothered about an elected representative’s conduct.

Thomas said he was active in the cooperative sector as a Congress activist for about 40 years. He quit politics following a difference of opinion with local Congress leadership. This is not the first time Thomas has taken the legal route.

In 2021, he filed a complaint with the Ombudsman against the Nedumkunnam panchayat president, alleging there is no official record that she is a resident of the panchayat. The trial in the case is yet to be completed.

In another incident, Thomas filed a complaint against the KSRTC in October 2023 with the Consumer court after the low-floor AC bus he travelled in broke down midway during a trip from Changanassery to Thiruvananthapuram.

“I could not give blessings at the wedding I was supposed to attend on that day because of the delay caused by the breakdown. Recently, the consumer court settled the case in my favour and ordered me compensation of Rs 5,000,” he said.