THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has ordered the constitution of a high-level team led by the state police chief to look into allegations against ADGP M R Ajith Kumar after hours long deliberations. The government, however didn’t announce any decision to remove him from the post till the inquiry is over. Sources said it’s unlikely to remove him.
Lengthy deliberations were held in the CMO to discuss what action needed to be taken against the officer. Though there was a demand to keep Ajith out of the post till the inquiry was over, there were many takers in the CMO, who batted to maintain status quo warning that transferring Ajith would validate the allegations raised by MLA P V Anvar.
Earlier, it was assumed that the government might pick Crime Branch ADGP H Venkatesh or Headquarters ADGP S Sreejith as Ajith’s replacement. In either of the cases, the shift could’ve triggered another rejig in the top echelons of the force.
The imbroglio in the force was triggered by the charges levelled by the Nilambur MLA. His initial allegation was that the ADGP emulated the fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim and ran a gold smuggling racket. He doubled down on the ADGP later and raised more serious allegations such as amassing wealth by illegal means and running a spy network in a Gulf country to abet gold smuggling and accused the local police, which was headed by the ADGP, sabotaged the investigation into the death of a youth, who was privy to many secrets of the gold-smuggling racket.
Meanwhile, Pathanamthitta SP S Sujith Das, whose leaked phone conversation with Anvar had triggered the controversy, has been removed from the post. He has been ordered to meet the state police chief. Vigilance SP V G Vinod Kumar has been posted as the new Pathanamthitta SP.