Kottayam: In a rare act of punishment, the government has taken severe action against two cops for accepting bribe in the Kevin murder case. While ASI T M Biju has been dismissed from service, three annual increments of driver M N Ajayakumar have been cut.
Several top officers, including IG Vijay Sakhare, had opined that the police committed gross procedural violations in the Kevin murder case. Biju and Ajayakumar have been charged with accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 from Sanu Chacko, the main accused in the case.
According to the statement of the police before the court, ASI of Gandhi Nagar Biju was aware that a gang had abducted Kevin. Biju was arrested for accepting a bribe from the gang. He gave a statement which said that he took the bribe to avoid registering a case for drunk driving. According to Bjiu, he had no idea that the gang was abducting Kevin.
Soon after receiving a complaint about Kevin’s abduction, Biju had contacted the house of Neenu, Kevin’s wife. He obtained the phone number from those who had submitted the complaint in the early morning. Neenu’s father Chacko, who attended Biju’s call, told his family members before cutting the phone that they should shift from the place as ‘everything has gone wrong’. This comment was heard by Biju.
Later, during patrolling on that Sunday night, Biju checked the vehicle in which Sanu and gang travelled with the intention of taking Kevin captive. He inspected Sanu’s passport also and noticed that the address in it was the same as that of Chacko, whom he had called earlier in the day. However, Biju took no action, said the prosecution to the court.
Instead, Biju accepted a bribe of Rs 2,000 from the gang and let them go.
