UDF govt suspends ADGP Ajith Kumar for patronising Pinarayi's 'rescue mission'

Kerala government on Thursday suspended ADGP M R Ajith Kumar from service for the role he allegedly played in protecting former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's security guards who had bludgeoned KSU workers who were shouting slogans at the Nava Kerala bus as it passed through Alappuzha in 2023.

DGP Ravada A Chandrasekhar, who had sought more clarity from the Special Investigation Team, finally accepted the SIT report on July 21. He forwarded it to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday, recommending appropriate action. The Home Minister ordered suspension and Chief Minister V D Satheesan endorsed it.  

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by SP A P Shoukath Ali had found that Ajith Kumar had applied pressure on police officers to 'modify' the investigation report on the assault of Youth Congress and KSU workers during Nava Kerala Yatra in favour of Pinarayi's security personnel. The SIT had detected suppression of material facts and fabrication of records under the influence of Ajith Kumar to insulate the accused from departmental action. 

The sudden and merciless attacks on slogan-shouting Youth Congress and KSU workers during the LDF government's Nava Kerala Yatra were then infamously dubbed as a "rescue mission" ('rakshapravarthanam') by Pinarayi.

The SIT had submitted its report to the DGP exactly a month ago on June 23. However, the DGP forwarded the report to the government only on July 21. In the interim, there was growing suspicion that efforts were on to protect Ajith Kumar. Alappuzha MLA A D Thomas, one of the victims of the 'rescue mission', had openly aired his concerns.

Reportedly, after legal consultation, the DGP found that certain verifiable aspects in the SIT report did not tally with Ajith Kumar's version. For instance, Ajith Kumar had argued that he was in Wayanad coordinating the rescue and rehabilitation of landslide victims at Mundakkai and Chooralmala when the investigating officers were said to have met him in Thiruvananthapuram and taken orders. 

Therefore, after 'studying' the SIT report for a fortnight, the DGP returned it to the SIT asking for more clarification. This was seen as a delaying tactic to protect Ajith Kumar, and had sparked unrest within the Congress. Chief Minister V D Satheesan was annoyed with the media for insinuating that his government had lost interest in punishing those behind an attack the Congress party had considered not just unlawful but also inhuman.

The CM said that the government wanted an airtight case, or else the affected officer could approach the court and get the government order overturned. The SIT then re-submitted its report with more material and chronological evidences, including call records, to substantiate its finding that Ajith Kumar had indeed moved strings to rescue Pinarayi's men.

The disciplinary action has come just a week ahead of the ADGP's elevation to the DGP rank. Fire and Rescue Services director general Nitin Agarwal will retire on July 31, causing a vacancy in one of the four DGP-ranked posts in Kerala. Ajith Kumar is next in line for the promotion to the DGP cadre.

However, a mere suspension is not enough to deny Ajith Kumar a promotion. For this, a civil service officer has to be served an 'Article of Charges', a brief and formal statement of the misconduct against an officer.

Top sources in the Police Department said that in this age of AI, the 'Article of Charges', which will be based on the SIT report, can be drawn up in less than a minute. "The government can, however, delay issuing the 'Article of Charges' if it wants to protect the officer," a senior IPS officer said. Once the 'Article of Charges' is served, the only course of action left for Ajith Kumar is to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal.