Absconding history-sheeter Arjun A (26), alias Arjun Ayanki, has once again courted controversy with provocative remarks, this time targeting Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.

In a Facebook post, Ayanki challenged Chennithala to order a reinvestigation into a case in which he and his associates were arrested and jailed. He claimed that the case had been fabricated against him and challenged the minister to take action against the police officer concerned if the reinvestigation established his innocence.

“If the reinvestigation proves that I am innocent, then action should be taken against Circle Inspector Prashanth for abusing his authority by foisting a false case against me,” Ayanki said.

He added that if such action was taken, he would personally meet Chennithala, honour him with a ceremonial shawl and “even give him a kiss”.

Ayanki also warned the minister against attempting to intimidate him, saying he belonged to a political party that had grown strong.

His remarks came hours after Chennithala referred to Ayanki while responding to media questions about the police crackdown on habitual offenders. During a press conference on Thursday, the minister said the police were taking strong action against goons and added that those challenging the police should “wait and see what’s coming next”.

The exchange came amid a fresh case registered by the Oonnukal police in Ernakulam against Ayanki on charges including criminal intimidation and using obscene or abusive words. The case was registered over threatening and abusive voice messages sent to Inspector Adarsh B S, whom Ayanki has allegedly targeted over the police efforts to arrest him in connection with an earlier case registered at Kothamangalam police station.

The confrontation between Ayanki and the Ernakulam Rural Police dates back to May 3, when police conducted a pre-dawn raid at a resort near Punnekkad in Kothamangalam as part of Operation Steel Bird, launched to target habitual offenders ahead of the Assembly elections.

A team led by the Kothamangalam SHO arrested Ayanki and five associates under organised crime-related charges, suspecting that they had assembled to plan criminal activities. Ayanki spent 21 days in custody before securing conditional bail.

Following his release, Ayanki posted a series of social media messages targeting the Kothamangalam SHO, alleging that police had fabricated cases against him. In one of the posts, he warned that he would not allow the officer to have a peaceful retirement. Police also alleged that sexually explicit and threatening messages were sent to women in the officer's family.

Based on complaints from the SHO and his family, the Kothamangalam police registered a case. Ayanki subsequently approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail, but the court rejected his plea, observing that the case did not warrant the exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction.

Hours after the court's decision, Ayanki posted an Instagram screen recording of a direct-message conversation with the Oonnukal SHO regarding his proposed surrender.

Later that day, however, he sent the SHO a three-minute voice message alleging that police were tracking the phone locations of his associates despite his willingness to surrender. He said he had changed his decision to surrender and challenged the police to arrest him. He also made fresh remarks against the Kothamangalam SHO, referring to his earlier arrest and 21 days in judicial custody.

Police have since intensified efforts to trace and arrest Ayanki.