Former district police chief of Pathanamthitta Sujith Das has been placed under suspension days after his purported conversation with Left MLA P V Anvar surfaced, allegedly revealing internal issues in the police.
A one-line statement issued by the CMO announced that Chief Minister Vijayan has ordered the suspension of Sujith Das, who was the district police chief of Pathanamthitta.
According to a CMO official, DIG Ajeetha Begum was entrusted with primarily investigating the serious allegations against Das. Her report found serious lapses, following which the Chief Minister ordered his suspension, the official said.
An audio conversation of IPS officer with Left MLA P V Anvar had gone viral. He allegedly rang up Anvar MLA and pleaded him not to put him in trouble by raking up the issue and extended full cooperation with him throughout his service.
Subsequently, Anvar, who himself faced several allegations earlier, came out with a series of allegations targeting Das along with ADGP (law and order) M R Ajith Kumar. It included allegations that the gold hunt drive by Das was a well-planned move to siphon off gold from smugglers. He also released the purported phone conversations of Das with him. Anvar on Wednesday alleged that Das was in the process of destroying evidence.
A senior police officer, who spoke to DH on the condition of anonymity, said that even as Das seemed to have erred in felling trees, the allegations over gold smuggling were quite hard to believe.
The crackdown on gold smuggling by Das had indeed earned much goodwill for the police force last year, he pointed out while stressing the need for a fair probe.
"Wicket number one," Anvar said in a Facebook post after the CM ordered Das's suspension.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published 05 September 2024, 16:23 IST