Ernakulam Rural police chief seeks two separate reports on Koothattukulam fiasco

District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) Vaibhav Saxena has sought two separate reports in connection with the dramatic turn of events in Koothattukulam in which a CPI(M) councillor Kala Raju was allegedly ‘abducted’ by her own partymen on Saturday (Januaray 18).

Additional Superintendent of Police (Ernakulam Rural) has been asked to submit a report exclusively on the conduct of the police deployed on that day. The United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders and Ms. Raju have been highly critical of the police, especially the Muvattupuzha DySP P.M. Baiju, for allegedly being mute spectators and even facilitating the ‘abduction’ by the ruling party members. They accused the police of reportedly violating the Kerala High Court’s direction to extend protection to the councillors to ensure free and fair voting on no-confidence motions against the CPI(M)’s chairperson and vice-chairperson.

Besides, the Special Branch DySP has been asked to submit a detailed overall report on the incident. Also, Mr. Baiju has been relieved of the additional charge of Puthencruz subdivision and replaced by Aluva DySP, who will oversee the investigation into the incident. Mr. Baiju was deployed in Koothattukulam on Saturday since the jurisdictional DySP was reportedly away on Sabarimala duty.

The police are waiting for Ms. Raju to be discharged from the hospital to record her statement before the magistrate to ensure the sanctity of the statement. “We want to avoid inconsistencies in the statement considering that the complaint is by a CPI(M) councillor against her own party. The legal opinion we received also suggested that,” said the police sources. The police may move to arrests only after recording her statement before the magistrate even as questions are being raised by the UDF leaders about the alleged inaction on the part of the police citing the absence of arrests.

The police had registered a case arraigning in P.B Ratheesh CPI(M) area secretary, Koothattukulam, Vijaya Sivan, Koothattukulam municipal chairperson, Sunny Kuriakose, vice-chairperson, Suma Vishwambaran, councillor, and Febeesh George, CPI(M) local secretary, as the first five accused along with 45 other identifiable persons on a complaint by Ms. Raju’s children. The police have reportedly registered three other cases against both sides.