A super cop’s standoff with a chief minister

 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (Jan 31  HS): A particular  write-up is being circulated in the social media  for quite some time now. Though it is politically interesting and sensitive, it remains off the radars of the mainstream media. The protagonists of the write-up are, a politician who rose to become the Chief Minister of a State and an IPS officer who became the National Security Adviser to the Government of India.

It is interesting to note that the former IPS officer belonging to the Kerala cadre has not visited the State even once since the politician was sworn in as the Chief Minister in 2016. The chief minister too has not paid any courtesy call to the NSA whenever the former visited the national capital for party meetings or for official purposes.

The write-up is not based on hearsay. The facts mentioned in the article are authentic. The IPS officer was the superintendent of Kerala’s Kottayam district in 1971 while the home minister was none other than K Karunakaran, who later became the chief minister of the State. Pinarayi Vijayan was the local CPI(M) leader those days whose name evoked terror because of his penchant to demolish his enemies.

Vijayan was the main accused in the 1969 murder of Vadikkal Ramakrishnan, an RSS leader from Kannur. But all the accused were acquitted for want of evidence as no witness dared to  come forward to tell the court what really happened. Though Vadikkal Ramakrishnan’s widow had alleged Vijayan as the one who murdered her husband (it is also rated as the first political murder in modern Kerala), the mainstream media dominated by the CPI(M) cadre buried the news.

The social media write up is as follows:

“How the circle of life goes….

In late December 1971, when communal violence targetting Muslims reached Thalasseri, Kerala,  prominent young CPI-M leaders Vijayan Koran and M.V. Raghavan had been given charge by CPI-M of protecting mosques allegedly targeted by the RSS. Their goal was to make the Muslims believe that the communists were the saviours of Muslims. Vijayan Koran and his comrades travelled in the riot-hit regions with microphones and requested people to maintain harmony and not to fall into the communal propaganda which, research shows, was unleashed by themselves.

They stood guard at mosques which their own mobs had targeted for destruction, and one of them, comrade U. K. Kunjiraman, lost his life in a mob attack on January 4, 1972.

Vijayan was captured by the Thalassery Superintendent of Police who had taken charge just two days earlier. During the process of capturing him, Vijayan gave the slip to the constables who were holding his hands and started to run. The SP decided to pursue Vijayan on foot and ran after him and easily reaching up to him, landed a flying kick to his back. Vijayan fell flat on his face to the ground.

In the ensuing tussle, Vijayan lost his mundu (Kerala attire worn around the waist that can cover upto the ankles or can be fed to cover upto the knees). Vijayan was handcuffed and dragged into the police jeep by the SP of Thalassery in the midst of villagers shouting out pro-CPI-M slogans. It was the arresting officer himself who picked up Vijayan’s mundu and gave it to him before throwing him into the back of the jeep. The SP did not say or do anything to Vijayan in public. He simply took him away.

After arriving at the police station, Vijayan was ushered into the lockup by the constables who took him inside and uncuffed him. Vijayan continued to call out pro-party slogans and began threatening the constables of consequences for arresting him. On hearing all the noise and commotion emanating from the lockup, the SP entered the lockup, grabbed Vijayan by the neck with one hand and easily lifted his frail body at least one foot above ground. The SP then dropped Vijayan down to earth and gave him a gaze. Vijayan’s eyeballs involuntarily moved down whimpering in fear. The 26 year old IPS officer said: Mr. VIJAYAN KORAN, LOOK AT ME!!!

The young SP then pulled out his revolver and placed it on Vijayan’s forehead. As soon as the SP unbuckled his revolver holster, Vijayan broke out into a loud sob and urinated right there begging for forgiveness in Malayalam. The SP, although not a malayali, was a Kerala Cadre IPS officer who could understand that “ayyo saare enne onnum chayyalle, ennode kshamikkane” means “please sir, do not harm me, forgive me”. The SP then told Vijayan, “I don’t want to see any more violence in Thalassery sponsored by your bosses and executed by you goons. This gun is loaded and the next time we meet, there will be no pleasantries. The lead bullet in it will enter your forehead and leave with your brains from behind your head. Is that clear?”

Vijayan still profusely sobbing managed to respond “yes sir” as he defecated while standing. The SP then instructed him to use his mundu to wipe the floor which had a pool of Vijayan’s urine and faeces between his legs. As the SP left the lockup, he told Vijayan that he will release him without charge the next day and he has to go and advise his freinds in the party to stop this nonsense that leads to people getting killed for political needs.

Thalassery was calm and quiet for the next 6 months until the SP was transferred from Thalassery by the CPI’s CM Shri C. Achutha Menon’s administration.

In the above incident, the SP was none other than Ajith Doval and Vijayan Koran, who is a murder accused in the murder of RSS activist Vadikkal Ramakrishnan on April 28, 1969, in Kannur was sworn in as the chief minister of Kerala in May 2016. He is known as Pinarayi Vijayan outside of his police records.

Ajith Doval is incharge of the NIA investigation regarding the Kerala gold smuggling case of 2020 in which CM Vijayan’s close aid and secretary M Sivasankaran IAS is allegedly involved.