5 days after auto driver ends life, SI suspended for illegally impounding vehicle

Kasaragod: Kasaragod Town Sub-Inspector Anoop P, whose alleged high-handedness forced an autorickshaw driver to take his own life, has been suspended from service pending inquiry.

Even as the SI was facing a preliminary departmental inquiry into the suicide of autorickshaw driver Yakoob Abdul Sathar (57), "a video of the same officer misbehaving with another autorickshaw driver went viral", said District Police Chief Shilpa Dyavaiah.

Sub-inspector Anoop has been suspended from service for disobeying his senior officer, tarnishing the image of the Police Department and also against the backdrop of the new video of him using excessive force on another auto driver, said Dyavaiah. "Now, there will be a full oral inquiry against him," she said. DIG Kannur Range Rajpal Meena will initiate the inquiry, she said.

On October 7, Monday, Abdul Sathar went live on Facebook, accusing SI Anoop of mentally torturing him and refusing to release his autorickshaw impounded over a petty offence five days before on October 3. He narrated the incident and his bad experience with police after that in detail. When other autorickshaw drivers rushed to his rented house near Kasaragod Railway Station, it was locked from inside. Police broke down the door and found him dead inside.

The District Police Chief immediately transferred Anoop to Chandera Police Station, 50km south of Kasaragod Town Station, and ordered a preliminary inquiry by Additional SP Balakrishnan Nair P. 

Kasaragod and Manjeshwar MLAs NA Nellikkunnu and AKM Ashraf wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanding Anoop's immediate suspension and a full-fledged inquiry into his action and service history. They also criticised the police department for trivialising Abdul Sathar's death by transferring the erring official to another police station. 

On Thursday, Nellikkunnu and Ashraf met the State Police Chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb and submitted a complaint against SI Anoop, an officer who recently passed out from the police academy.

On Thursday, Abdul Sathar's son Sheik Shaneez, who works in Mangaluru, told the media that the police should press murder charges against Anoop.

Till Thursday night, three days after Abdul Sathar died, the preliminary report was not submitted. Even as the police department appeared reluctant to act against Anoop, a video of him grabbing autorickshaw driver Noushad by his collar and trying to drag him to a police vehicle went viral on Friday. 

Noushad can be heard saying that he did not commit a murder to be treated that way. Noushad's colleagues streamed the incident live on Facebook, and they can be heard telling the SI that his actions were unbecoming of an officer. 

The complaint against Noushad was that he forced a passenger to get off his autorickshaw midway through the journey.

Robbing the livelihood
On October 3, Home Guard Krishnan, managing the traffic on Kasaragod's Bank Road, intercepted the autorickshaw of Abdul Sathar and accused him of taking the wrong lane. 

Sathar said in the live video that he was only following three other cars in front of him. But the Home Guard called in SI Anoop, who took away the autorickshaw's key. 

"What can I do? It blocked the road." When people behind started honking in protest, the officer took the autorickshaw to the Kasaragod Town Police Station, 4km away. 

Since then, SI Anoop made Abdul Sathar run around in circles to get his vehicle back. "It was a petty offence with a maximum fine of Rs 250," Moinudeen, an autorickshaw driver and leader of Swatantra Thozhilali Union (STU), the trade union of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

Abdul Sathar said the autorickshaw was gifted to him by his NRI friend by paying a down payment of Rs 25,000. "I have to pay an EMI of Rs 8100 every month," he said. The police were pushing him into a debt trap by not releasing the autorickshaw for five days. "The police were robbing his livelihood. Imagine, even at 60 years old, he had to drive around the autorickshaw for a living. That he had to end his life exposed the cruelty of the sub-inspector and the lack of humanity of the police force," said Kasaragod MLA Nellikkunnu.

When Abdul Sathar went to meet the District Police Chief, the receptionist directed him to Kasaragod DySP CK Sunilkumar. 

According to police sources, the DySP directed SI Anoop to release the autorickshaw but he ignored the order. When Abdul Sathar was live on Facebook, Moinudeen said he contacted the Kasaragod Town Station House Officer. The inspector told Moinudeen that he would take steps to release the autorickshaw. But then it was too late.

Abdul Sathar, who worked in Kasaragod town, is survived by his wife Haseena Banu, elder daughter Sana Parveen, son Sheik Shaneez and younger daughter Shamna Sheik. They live in Mangaluru and Sathar used to visit them every weekend.

District Police Chief Dyavaiah said the Home Guard, who initiated the chain of events, has been transferred to a Fire and Rescue Station.

Meanwhile, autorickshaw drivers aligned with the CPM's trade union CITU staged a protest march in Kanhangad town on Friday. Some drivers said that they had only recently learned of Sathar's connection to the party. 

On Thursday, C Shukkur, a prominent lawyer, actor, and CPM member from Kasaragod, publicly criticised the police and urged the government to take responsibility for Abdul Sathar's family. "The death of Abdul Sathar is a serious matter... The state has an obligation to protect Sattar's family," wrote Adv Shukkur on his Facebook page. He also questioned the source of the motivation behind those opposing government policies.