In an unprecedented move, the entire 60 police personnel attached to the Vadakara police station, including the Station House Officer (SHO), were transferred on Tuesday following alleged custodial torture and death. Kaleri PonmarieParambil Sajeevan Last week.
The corrective action comes close on the heels of suspension of three personnel by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Kannur range) on Friday citing procedural lapses. Another police officer was also suspended on Tuesday, taking the total number of personnel facing departmental and crime branch probes to four.
The SHO was transferred by the Director General of Police, while the others were transferred by District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural) R. Karuppasamy did it. Those transferred include three sub-inspectors and two assistant sub-inspectors. They were shifted to stations in rural Kozhikode.
talking to HinduMr Karuppasamy said the officers were transferred “with immediate effect for administrative convenience”.
He said, “His replacements were also taken from different stations in Kozhikode rural. They are not eligible for joining time. Vadakara sub-divisional police officers will submit the compliance report within five days.
However, police sources said that the Home Department had taken disciplinary action in the wake of huge public outcry against the police over last Thursday’s incident.
The Vadakara police had taken 42-year-old Sajeevan and two others into custody after they allegedly had an altercation with a man after an accident in the night. Though the trio was later released, Sajeevan collapsed on the road and eventually succumbed to his injuries on the way to the Vadakara Cooperative Hospital.
His friends had alleged that the police harassed him and refused to take Sajeevan to the hospital when he complained of inconvenience at the station. A squad of Crime Branch headed by Superintendent of Police KK Moideenkutty is probing the case.