ADGP met RSS leaders at the behest of Vijayan: Kerala LoP
Satheesan alleged that the ADGP was deputed as a messenger at the behest of Pinarayi Vijayan to strike a quid pro quo deal with the RSS-BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections
Amid the row over Kerala additional director general of police (Law and order) MR Ajithkumar allegedly meeting top leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan has alleged that the cop was deputed as a messenger at the behest of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to strike a quid pro quo deal with the RSS-BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Ajithkumar, a 1995-batch IPS officer, is reported to have held ‘private’ meetings with RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and the outfit’s national executive member Ram Madhav on two separate occasions in May-June 2023.
While the top cop met Hosabale on the sidelines of an RSS camp in Thrissur, he met Madhav, currently the BJP’s election-in-charge in Jammu and Kashmir, at a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram. While the police officer has not publicly denied the meetings, the nature and context of the interactions remain unclear.
Congress leader VD Satheesan, who told the media that he has concrete proof of the two meetings, has alleged that Ajithkumar was deputed as a messenger at the behest of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to strike a quid pro quo deal with the RSS-BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “The message conveyed in the meeting was that it (CPM) would provide all help in opening the electoral account of the BJP in the state. In return, the party and the government it leads in the state should not be harmed,” Satheesan alleged on Monday.
Ajithkumar, responsible for law and order issues in the state, was also present in Thrissur when the festivities of the Thrissur Pooram, a cultural festival in the city, were disrupted in April this year due to alleged mismanagement of crowds by the city police, Satheesan claimed. At the time, the state government had responded by removing then city police commissioner Ankit Asokan.
However, the Congress leader alleged that Ajithkumar played a key role in disrupting the festivities and making the environment favourable for the BJP candidate Suresh Gopi who went on to win the Lok Sabha election in Thrissur by over 60,000 votes.
While the CPI(M) leadership has termed Satheesan’s allegations baseless, it promised that the government would investigate if there were lapses on the part of Ajithkumar’s conduct. Vijayan, who holds the home department portfolio, and Ajithkumar have not publicly responded to the charges.
For 56-year-old Ajithkumar, who was appointed ADGP (L&O) in October 2022 replacing Vijay Sakhare who was deputed to the NIA, the political controversy couldn’t have come at a worse time.
The top IPS officer is already facing an inquiry by a panel headed by DGP Shaik Darvesh Saheb on the complaint of LDF MLA from Nilambur PV Anvar. The MLA has raised grievous allegations against the officer including links with gold smuggling gangs, tapping phone conversations of ministers and even ordering murders. Another IPS officer, Sujith Das S, also allegedly connected to gold smuggling and illegal tree-felling, has already been suspended.
In his only public reaction since the allegations by Anvar, Ajithkumar was quoted saying, “I have petitioned the chief minister and the DGP for an investigation into the allegations against me. The office I hold precludes me from saying anything else.”
In June 2022, Ajithkumar was removed as director of the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (ACB) over criticism that an accused in the 2020 gold smuggling scandal was taken into custody without even issuing a notice. Also, Swapna Suresh, an accused in the case, had alleged that the police officer got in touch with a man who compelled her to withdraw the complaint she raised against the chief minister and his family.