Inspector's suicide note accuses DySP of sexually exploiting woman; dept says senior not being probed

Palakkad: A police suicide, initially written off as a personal crisis, has now cracked open a can of worms the department is scrambling to contain.

Three pages from a 32-page note purportedly left behind by Cherpulassery station house office - inspector Binu Thomas (52) reveal how his senior officer -- now a deputy superintendent of police in Kozhikode district -- allegedly intimidated, coerced, and sexually exploited a woman detained in an immoral trafficking case that was never registered.

Thomas was found dead in his quarters at Cherpulassery in Palakkad district on November 15. Despite the damning and sordid allegations he made in the suicide note, the department maintains that the officer named in it is not under investigation. Kozhikode Rural District Police Chief K E Baiju said he was not aware of any departmental action against the DySP. Calls to Palakkad District Police Chief Ajith Kumar went unanswered.

Alathur DySP Manoj Kumar R, under whom the deceased Cherpulassery SHO served, said the police were investigating only the suicide. “Today, we recorded the woman’s statement, but that is linked only to the suicide, not to the officer mentioned in the note,” he said. When asked directly whether the DySP was under investigation, he was categorical: “No.”

The incidents described in the leaked pages 4, 5 and 6 of the 32-page suicide note began on April 24, 2014. Back then, Binu Thomas was a sub-inspector, and his senior was an inspector at the Wadakkanchery police station.

That evening, police raided what they said was a brothel on a tip-off. One woman and four men were detained.

They were brought to the police station, but no case was registered. According to the suicide note, the senior official repeatedly abused the woman, and insisted Binu Thomas to commit similar acts.

Police sources in Kozhikode said the DySP is a socially committed officer and, during his earlier stint as ACP in Kozhikode City, was a regular presence at public events tied to social causes. But they said a part of Binu Thomas’s note was leaked to the media after the department allegedly tried to bury it. According to reports, the Palakkad District Police Chief has given a preliminary report to the Deputy Inspector General. But officially, the police maintain that DySP is not under investigation.