THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a gaffe that the Intelligence chief of a State police force can ill afford, director general of police (Intelligence) B S Muhammad Yasin on Wednesday landed in a soup after he reportedly mistook Revenue minister E Chandrashekaran for Agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar.
According to sources, Yasin arrived at the revenue minister's residence for an appointment in the morning and reportedly asked Chandrashekaran whether he was Agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar. An astonished Chandrashekaran corrected the police officer and gave him the directions to Sunil Kumar's official residence.
Later speaking to media persons, Chandrashekaran said it was unfortunate that the highest-ranking officer of the State police intelligence wing could not identify the State's ministers properly.
Chandrasekharan (68) is the leader of the CPI parliamentary party while 49-year-old Sunil Kumar is the youngest of the four CPI ministers.
However, the State intelligence chief denied it saying "I was supposed to meet the agriculture minister regarding vacating the agriculture department -owned building being used by the police. The driver, who is not a local person, took me to the Revenue minister's residence instead," he told the New Indian Express.
Muhammad Yasin said that since it was improper to make a hasty retreat from Chandrashekaran's residence, he interacted with the minister and told him about the mistake.
However, the episode has caused a huge embarrassment for the State police force which was recently criticised for excesses during a protest led by deceased student Jishnu Prannoy's mother, Mahija.