Sub Inspector Sajeev Kumar faces brunt of moral policing by goons

Kochi: The case of a Sub Inspector landing up at night at the residence of a “TV serial artiste” at Puthencruz in Kochi has taken a new twist with the senior police officials on Sunday maintaining the action against the cop was taken for “bringing disrepute to the force” and that he had done nothing wrong legally.

The development comes even as the family based in Thiruvaniyur, whom the suspended cop visited on the night of June nine, said no one among them acted in a TV serial or film and that the SI had visited her residence at the invitation of her father.

Sub Inspector Sajeev Kumar too said he was a victim of moral policing and that most of those who rounded him up were  those he had apprehended in cases, especially ganja peddling and bootlegging, a claim backed by senior officials who probed into the incident.

“It’s true one Unnikrishnan had approached the SI with a complaint that his son-in-law is refusing to hand back gold ornaments of his daughter and the relation between them got sour. The SI is claiming he went there on the invitation of Unnikrishnan to have dinner. However, the action was taken after it was found he visited the house two to three times just three weeks after coming to know them. Also he was probing into their complaint and he went there not as part of the official duty. Thus his act resulted in disrepute to the force,” a senior police officer said on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Kumar said he would take legal proceedings against those spreading malicious reports, especially through online media. Soon after the incident, the Social media activists made a bonfire of the SI for alleged misconduct. Top police officials also admitted that among those who attacked the Sub Inspector involved a few people who he had earlier arrested in a drug trafficking case.

“However, there were complaints earlier against rude behaviour of the police personnel who would hurl abuse at the slightest of provocations. The local people too turned their ire at him then due to this,” the officer said.

The police also found the claim of the local people about the woman or other family members being a serial artiste is not true. “Her daughter only attended a programme audition and never acted in any serial or film,” he said. The police has lodged cases against 15 for assaulting the SI and seen others for attacking the woman.