PV Anvar claims ADGP Ajith Kumar took bribe to protect online journalist

Malappuram: Former Nilambur MLA PV Anvar has levelled serious allegations against ADGP MR Ajith Kumar after the senior police officer claimed there was a police conspiracy behind the illegal assets case against him.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Anvar alleged that Ajith Kumar accepted a bribe to avoid arresting Marunadan Malayali online channel editor Shajan Skariah and to refrain from invoking Section 66F of the Information Technology Act — which deals with cyber terrorism — against him. The Palarivattom police had booked Skariah for allegedly leaking a police wireless message and publishing it on his YouTube channel. Anvar claimed that the police slapped only weaker provisions of the Information Technology Act against Skariah.

At the same time, Anvar confirmed Ajith Kumar’s statement that the two had met at a friend’s house. He said he had discussed the seriousness of Skariah’s alleged offence and urged Ajith Kumar to take immediate action to arrest the editor.

“When I came to know about Shajan Skariah’s meeting with a senior lawyer in Delhi, I immediately alerted Ajith Kumar. But he did not take any action to nab the accused, who was absconding. Later, I came to know that Ajith Kumar had received a bribe from Shajan’s brother in Pune,” Anvar told the media.

He added that Ajith Kumar had claimed to have deployed mufti police near the lawyer’s office. Anvar accused the ADGP of cheating him in connection with Skariah’s case.

“After Shajan Skariah’s case, I realised that Ajith Kumar is a fraud. Following this incident, I began my own investigations into cases including the Ridhan murder, Mami missing case, and illegal tree felling at the SP office,” Anvar said.

The Trinamool Congress leader further accused Ajith Kumar of working for the RSS in Kerala. Meanwhile, he dismissed Ajith Kumar’s allegations of a police conspiracy and maintained that all necessary evidence had been submitted in the disproportionate assets case against the officer.

Anvar reiterated that Ajith Kumar is a corrupt official.