A month and two days after Nilambur MLA P V Anvar made his accusations, ADGP M R Ajith Kumar has been removed as head of Law and Order.
The action has also come minutes after Anvar hinted at a public meeting in Manjeri, Malappuram, that the Chief Minister was scared of removing Ajith Kumar from his post. "The Chief Minister alone knows the repercussions of acting against the ADGP," Anvar said at a public gathering called to launch his "social movement" christened Democratic Movement of Kerala.
The decision to remove Ajith Kumar from Law and Order is based on DGP Sheik Darvesh Saheb's report that had found grave shortcomings in the official conduct of the ADGP on a host of issues, particularly his decision to meet top RSS leaders. The DGP is also said to have attributed questionable motives to the ADGP in the investigation into the murder of Ridan, who was allegedly linked to gold smuggling from Karipur.
Considering the damning observations made by the DGP, Ajith Kumar was let off lightly. He has only been transferred, not suspended. He is now ADGP (Battalion), a post he already holds. Manoj Abraham, the senior-most ADGP in Kerala, will take over as the new ADGP (Law & Order).
The Chief Minister, who had repeatedly stated that exemplary action would be taken if the charges against the ADGP could be confirmed, demonstrated a reluctance to act against the ADGP.
As counter to the charge that he was being over protective, the CM had taken the stand that a mere allegation could not be used to summarily penalise an official. "Once the investigation report is available, appropriate action would be taken," he had said.
The DGP then sprang a surprise in the last week of September. He wrote a covering letter incriminating the ADGP for the Thrissur Pooram report prepared by the ADGP himself. Ajith Kumar's voluminous probe report on the mishandling of the pooram was silent about his role and instead heaped the blame mostly on the inexperience of a junior commissioner, Ankit Ashok. But the DGP pointedly asked why the ADGP failed to intervene even though he was in Thrissur when things spiralled out of control.
The Chief Minister found a way to surmount the DGP's indictment of the ADGP. He said this was not enough to take action against the ADGP. "The DGP's inference was made without a detailed probe," the CM said. He asked the DGP to conduct a further probe on the ADGP's role in the sabotage of the pooram. Thus, the action against the ADGP was delayed.
But on October 5, the DGP submitted the report of a probe carried out on the basis of a series of allegations made by Anvar, and this included the ADGP's role in disrupting the Pooram, and his extrajudicial role in cases like the disappearance of industrialist Mohammad Mami and the murder of Ridan.
Top sources said the report contained damning information that the CM could not ignore. Even then, the CM waited for nearly 24 hours to issue an order removing Ajith Kumar from Law and Order.
In this eagerness to protect the ADGP, the CM approached the CPI's concern with indifference. The CPI, the second largest LDF constituent, wanted the ADGP removed from Law and Order. For the CPI, the bigger worry was not the ADGP's corruption but his socialising with top RSS leaders. Its leaders publicly stated that it was an affront to a government-guided Leftist values to have in a crucial post a cop who hobnobs with RSS leaders. However, neither the CM or his party was willing to acknowledge this ideological crisis.
Possibly why CPI state secretary Binoy Viswom virtually termed the removal of the ADGP as a victory of the CPI. "This is not just the victory of the CPI but of the entire LDF government," Viswom said right after the order removing the ADGP was issued. "A senior official had met with the RSS not once but twice, and in very mysterious circumstances. A government driven by left values had to respond. And the government has done it today," he said.
He said that all other issues like the delay in taking action and even the lack of a stronger action were not relevant for the time being. "All these things can be taken up at a later date," he said.