CPM panchayat president raises allegations of torture against DySP Madhu Babu on Facebook, deletes post

Adding to the growing list of torture allegations against Alappuzha DySP Madhu Babu, a CPM panchayat president from Pathanamthitta has recalled a harrowing raid the officer led at his home in 2013. P R Pramod, president of Seethathodu grama panchayat, recounted the ordeal in a Facebook post he recently shared and later deleted. “Madhu Babu, then Circle Inspector of Chittar Police Station, acted as a goonda for the then Revenue Minister and Konni MLA Adoor Prakash. He hunted down party workers, including myself, during the Solar Scam protest,” Pramod wrote.

According to him, Madhu Babu stormed into his house without a warrant. “My son, just three years old at the time, was pulled out of his sleep and thrown to the floor. That is the kind of brutality he displayed,” the post read.

The revelation comes amid mounting outrage in Kerala over police brutality, fuelled by shocking CCTV visuals from Kunnamkulam and Peechi stations in Thrissur. Madhu Babu faces a series of allegations ranging from the custodial torture of an SFI leader and a jeweller in Pathanamthitta to the humiliation of a woman film producer in Alappuzha.

Revisiting the 2013 incident, Pramod told Onmanorama how the raid unfolded in the early hours of the morning. “It was around 4 am when they knocked on the door. My father opened the door, thinking someone needed help. More than 10 policemen, led by CI Madhu Babu, rushed in. When my father asked if they had a warrant, they became aggressive and barged inside,” he recalled.

Inside, chaos followed. The cot where Pramod’s specially abled son was asleep was flipped, sending the boy crashing to the floor. His eight-year-old daughter clung to her grandfather in terror as both children cried. At the time, only Pramod’s parents and children were present. His wife had died a year earlier, leaving his retired schoolteacher father and mother to help raise them.

Pramod said the raid was part of a larger crackdown on CPM activists leading the Solar Scam protests. “I had moved to a neighbour’s house, knowing they would come. They raided several homes but entered only mine,” he said. One of his fellow protestors, T S Suraj, was arrested and remanded for 14 days. Pramod stayed in hiding for days to avoid the same fate.

Though the CPM launched demonstrations and laid siege to police stations in protest, Pramod did not file a complaint. “What was the point? The police were acting under Adoor Prakash’s orders. Madhu Babu was executing his directives,” he alleged.

The incident, he said, left his children traumatised. “We marched with thousands to the police office, but no action was taken. Congress was in power then, and they controlled the police,” Pramod said.

“Revisiting the incident has nothing to do with the CPM or the current government. These abuses happened under Congress's rule, too. Madhu Babu was always Adoor Prakash’s tool,” he said.

“Those who now curse the police and abuse Pinarayi Vijayan — where were they then? Wasn’t Oommen Chandy the Chief Minister? There will always be rotten elements in the force, and such criminals must be stopped. Today, we have a Chief Minister capable of doing that. Police goondas beware!,” he took to Facebook.

Allegations against Madhu Babu span years. As CI in Konni, he was accused of torturing SFI leader Jayakrishnan Thannithode, who recently revealed his eardrum was ruptured, the soles of his feet broken, and chilli sprayed in his eyes. "Though then-Pathanamthitta SP Harishankar recommended strict action, his report was ignored," Jayakrishnan took to Facebook.

Pathanamthitta jeweller Vijayan Achari alleged that in 2012, Madhu Babu fabricated 24 cases against him after brutally torturing him over alleged stolen gold. He claimed the officer demanded gold and money and retaliated when he refused.

Film producer Sheela Kurian accused the DySP of humiliating her in front of the accused persons while she pursued a financial fraud case in Alappuzha.