The Kerala government on Thursday fined senior IPS officer and former chief inspector general of the state’s ATS unit P Vijayan for leaking information regarding the movement of the accused in the Elathur train arson case from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kozhikode district in Kerala. suspended. Kerala.
According to the suspension order, the action was taken on the basis of a report submitted by ADGP Law and Order, MR Ajit Kumar, in which the leakage of information about the transport of the accused person was a serious security failure.
The order also states that Vijayan, a Kerala IPS officer of the rank of Inspector General, and Grade SI Manoj Kumar, who was not part of the team probing the train arson case, had approached the officers who wanted to arrest the accused. Were taking Kozhikode by road.
It further said that since the ATS wing of the police is expected to work more carefully, a detailed investigation of its officers based on the ADGP’s report was necessary.
It has been said in the order that it is necessary to suspend Vijayan from service till the investigation of the matter is completed.
The order states that ADGP (Police Headquarters) Padmakumar will conduct the investigation.
The Kerala Police’s strategy to secretly bring suspect Shahrukh Saifi into the state by road in a private SUV to avoid media and public attention went awry as the vehicle’s tire was punctured and only three officers were able to find one of the accused. Local people had gathered there to have a glimpse.
The tire burst incident happened when the team was passing through the state’s Kannur district and officials sat inside the SUV for nearly an hour, trying to arrange an alternate vehicle for their onward journey.
Saifi was caught in Ratnagiri on April 5, three days after the night of April 2, when he allegedly doused passengers with petrol and set them ablaze at the Korapuzha Bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode district. Nine people got burnt in the incident.
Three people – a woman, an infant and a man – died in the incident after they fell from the train while trying to escape from the fire.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police was formed to probe the incident.