Chennai: Kerala Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) M.R. Ajith Kumar, one of the state’s most powerful police officers, is in a tight spot once again after a ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF)-backed MLA levelled serious allegations against him.
These include allegations of links with a gold smuggling racket, murder, graft and tapping of phone calls of ministers and senior journalists.
Kumar, who is ADGP, law and order, was director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau till June 2022. He was in the news in June that year, when Swapna Suresh, one of the main accused in the 2020 Kerala gold smuggling case, claimed that Kumar had offered, through her friend, to remove legal obstacles in her international travel if she withdrew her statement alleging the involvement of CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his kin in the racket.
Hours after Swapna’s allegation, the Vijayan government transferred Kumar, only to appoint him as the ADGP (law and order) in October that year.
Now, Nilambur MLA P.V. Anvar has made a series of allegations against the IPS officer in multiple press conferences and on social media posts. He has also hinted that Kumar, who is said to be close to the chief minister, was behind the controversial police interventions during the Thrissur Pooram festival this year. The Thrissur police’s stringent measures regulating the festival marred the event that was held a week prior to the Lok Sabha polls.
Amid a standoff between the police and public, BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate Suresh Gopi had visited the Vadakkunnathan Temple and got permission for the customary display of fireworks—an act that the BJP later used to portray Gopi as a saviour of Kerala’s grand spectacle. Gopi went on to win the BJP’s first-ever Lok Sabha seat in Kerala.
The Kerala government has announced a probe into the allegations against the ADGP.
At the Kerala Police Association’s state conference in Kottayam Tuesday, where Kumar was present, CM Vijayan told the gathering: “Some issues have come to light in the public recently. It has been decided that these issues will be thoroughly investigated by a top-ranked officer in the police force. The investigation would be conducted without prejudgment.”
After the event, Kumar met the media outside the venue and said he had requested for a proper investigation into all the allegations against him.
Speaking to ThePrint, an MLA from the CPM said there was no clarity yet on the allegations against the senior IPS officer. “The probe should reveal the truth. The government will take action if needed.”
Anvar’s charges have put the state’s home department, of which Vijayan is in charge, under the shadow, leading to a political slugfest.
Dr K.S. Radhakrishnan, state vice-president of the BJP, told ThePrint that the issue reveals the inner conflicts within the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is leading the ruling LDF alliance. “There is a movement against the CM from the CPM itself,” Radhakrishnan, who is former chairman of Kerala Public Service Commission, said, adding that he had “never heard of the ADGP working according to the law from his colleagues”.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress alleged that the investigation is just an eyewash.
V.D. Satheesan, the Leader of the Opposition in the state, said happenings during Thrissur Pooram hinted at a “possible understanding between the CM and the RSS (since the BJP apparently benefitted from it)”.
“He (Vijayan) is afraid of this racket within his office related to illegal acts,” Satheesan told the media Tuesday.
Also Read: ‘Shady deals, money laundering, impropriety’ — what Kerala gold smuggling case has unearthed
Kumar’s claim to fame
An IPS officer of the 1995 batch, Kumar became a household name after he led a team to arrest two Italian marines accused of shooting two fishermen off the Alappuzha coast.
The 2012 murder in international waters had led to a diplomatic standoff between India and Italy. After days of uncertainty and public uproar in the nation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) conveyed to an Italian delegation that the law of the land will prevail in dealing with the case, paving the way for the arrest of the accused.
Kumar, who was then Kochi commissioner, led the team that arrested Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone from the Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie. Footage of the arrest was aired in the international media as well.
The officer then grabbed the limelight during the 2020 gold smuggling case. He also appeared in front of the public several times in the past few years, briefing about important developments in sensational cases such as the 2023 Kalamassery blast.
On Tuesday, Kumar was the chief guest of the state conference of the Kerala Police Association, where Vijayan announced a probe against him. Minutes after the chief minister’s speech, an emotional Kumar delivered an address to the same audience.
“I have been with the police for 29 years,” he said, listing his contributions to the force.
He added that he paved the way for many reforms in the police force, including introduction of the designation civil police officer (CPO) instead of constable. He said he had worked for salary revision for policemen, adding that he was choosing to say it as he was not sure if he would get another chance to do so.
‘Kumar working against CM’
Anvar last week leaked to the local media multiple audio conversations he purportedly had with Pathanamthitta police chief Sujith Das. The officer, now suspended, is heard asking Anvar to withdraw a complaint regarding the illegal cutting of trees in Malappuram. Das was working in Malappuram before he was transferred to Pathanamthitta.
Das then purportedly says that he is afraid to even think about the “most powerful Kumar, who is a close aide of P. Sasi,” the political secretary of CM Vijayan. He alleges that “Kumar ruined the image of Vijayan, who was highly respected in the state”.
On Sunday, Anvar held a press conference in Malappuram and levelled multiple allegations against Kumar and Sasi. He accused the ADGP of being involved in gold smuggling and even committing murders. “It seems like M.R. Ajith Kumar’s role model is (underworld don) Dawood Ibrahim,” Anvar said, alleging that a Calicut-based trader Mami, who he claimed is missing, was suspected to have been killed in connection with the gold smuggling racket.
He alleged that “Sujith Das, whom the ADGP controls, gets information whenever gold arrives at Calicut airport. Das, a former customs official, makes sure the gold doesn’t get noticed”.
The MLA went on to say that a faction within Kerala Police along with the ADGP was working against the directions of the CM, and added that he had no other choice but to inform the public and the government about the wrongdoings of officials entrusted by the CM. The MLA has since continued to attack the ADGP in the media.
However, Anvar, who has represented Malappuram district’s Nilambur constituency since 2016, is himself no stranger to controversy. The MLA, whose early stint in politics was as a member of the students’ union of the Kerala Congress, is also a businessman. In 2019, the MLA had alleged that the LDF’s junior partner CPI had destroyed his business.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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