The Kerala government on Thursday suspended senior IPS officer P Vijayan, the former ⛎head of the state's ATS unit, in connection with the alleged leak of information regarding transportation of the Elathౠur train arson case accused from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kozhikode district of the southern state.
According to the suspension order, the action has been taken on the basis of a repor👍t submitted by ADGP Law and Order M R ജAjith Kumar that the leak of information about the accused person's transportation was a serious security failure.
The order also said Vijayan, an Inspector General-rank officℱer, and Grade SI Manoj Kumar K, who were not part of the team investigatin🦩g the train arson case had contacted the officers who were taking the accused to Kozhikode by road.
It further said꧂ that since the ATS wing of police is expected to function more carefully, detailed investigation into its officials based o💫n the ADGP's report was necessary.
The order said that till the investigation of🅠 the matter is concluded it was necessary to suspend Vijayan from service.
ADGP (Police HQ) K Padmakumar wඣould be conducting the probe, the order s🧸aid.
The Kerala Police's strategy to secretly bring the suspect -- Shahrukh S🃏aifi -- to the state by road in a private SUV to avoid media and public attentionꦛ had gone awry as the vehicle got stranded on the roadside with a flat tyre and only three officers to guard the accused as locals gathered there to get a glimpse of him.
The flat tyre incident occurred while the team was proceeding through Kannur district of the state and the officers sat inside th𝕴e SUV for around an hour, trying to arrange a replacement vehicle for their onward jo♚urney.
Saifi was caught in Ratnagiri on April 5, three days after the night of April 2 wheꦜn he had allegedly set fire to passengers after pour༒ing petrol on them when the train reached Korapuzha bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode district. Nine people suffered burn injuries in the incident.
Three persons -- a woman, an iꩵnfant, and a man -- died in the incident after they fell down from the train in their atte𓆉mpt to escape from the fire.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) 🎀of the Kerala police was subsequently formed to probe the incident.
(With PTI Inputs)
