MULANTHURUTHY: Four days after the tragic incident in which two children died in an accident involving four policemen at Mulanthuruthy, the police on Monday released a detailed report absolving all the four policemen in the case.
As the accident took place while the policemen were on their way home after attending a retirement party, the police were playing hide and seek on the issue from Thursday night.
Seeing a violent mob at the accident spot soon after the mishap took place, a strong police contingent from Mulanthuruthy, Piravom and Chottanikkara police stations had camped there to avoid any untoward incidents. Again when the bodies of the two boys were brought to Mulanthuruthy on Friday, the local people turned violent and then too a police team headed by IG Sreelekha and SP Vikram reached the spot to control the violent mob. The two officers had promised that the absconding policemen would be traced soon. They had also declared that all the four policemen would be suspended from service.
SP Vikram even took the mediapersons and the locals to Mulanthuruthy and Piravom police station to identify the policemen. However, the SP could not locate the four policemen. Again on Friday night when the mediapersons enquired about the policemen, the Piravom and Mulanthuruthy police said the case had been handed over to the Puthencruz SubInspector.
Interestingly, the Puthencruz SI went trough the case file file but could not chargesheet the policemen as they were not named as accused in the case diary.
As per the opinion of legal experts, the four policemen cannot be chargesheeted as they were only passengers of the car. Meanwhile, the Mulanthuruthy police arrested Shine Raj,30, the driver of the private taxi involved in the accident. As per the law, the passengers in a vehicle are not responsible in case an accident happens. Whether the passengers were drunk or not is a different issue.
"Though there is such a privilege, the investigation team has been reluctant to find out the policemen," the local people say.
"This may be because of the fear that it may tarnish the morale of the police who frequently have to check vehicle riders with breath analyser to prevent drunk driving," the local people said. However, with the arrest of the driver of the car and naming him as the prime accused, the local people fear that the case would be closed and the policemen exonerated. "Nothing will happen in cases where policemen are involved in road rage," they say.
Sources said the accused police personnel have approached a local court seeking anticipatory bail in connection with the incident. The accused police personnel are senior civil police officers Aji Vaikom and Sojan Arayankav and civil police officers Stanly Aluva and Vijayan Vaikom.
KPMS stages dharna
Meanwhile, the KPMS staged a dharna at Mulanthuruthy on Tuesday evening in protest against the inaction on the part of the police in arresting those involved in the mishap ? FAC