Kerala: Police officer suspended for having links with PFI

Kochi: According to police, a Kerala Police officer has been suspended for allegedly having connections to members of the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI). According to a report provided by the SHO of Pothanikkad police station, Ernakulam (rural) District Police Chief Vivek Kumar issued an order on October 4 suspending the Civil Police Officer (CPO) who is alleged to have connections with PFI activists immediately. The order stated that due to his neglect of duty, indiscipline and failure to carry out his duties, which not only damaged the reputation of the force but also caused the public to lose trust in the police, he was suspended immediately, pending an investigation.  It also said that an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police would be investigating the allegations against the CPO, who was posted at Kalady police station and would submit a report with his recommendations within 14 days. The order states that according to the report, the CPO, C A Siyad without knowledge or permission of his superiors, tried to meet the PFI activists who were in custody at Perumbavoor police station in connection with the September 23 hartal related violence and attempted to unauthorisedly intervene in the investigation in the case. The report claimed that he called up various police officers to ask about the details of the case, arrests and the possibility of the grant of bail to the accused who were booked for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act for violent acts, including damaging buses, during the hartal. It further claimed that an examination of Siyad’s phone revealed numbers of various PFI activists and that he had contacted them several times. The report further alleged that the CPO, despite knowing the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and murder charges against some PFI activists, was not careful in his dealings with them. It also alleged that he had received on his WhatsApp photographs of the political killing of BJP OBC Morcha leader Ranjeet Sreenivas in Alappuzha in December last year. The BJP leader was hacked to death in his home, the very next day after Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) state secretary K S Shan was brutally murdered while on his way home. The back-to-back killings in Alappuzha on December 18-19 last year had rocked the coastal district and led to the imposition of prohibitory orders there for a couple of days. Read all the **_Latest News_** _, _ **_Trending News_** _, _ **_Cricket News_** _, _ **_Bollywood News_** _, _ **_India News_** and **_Entertainment News_** here. Follow us on Facebook_, _ Twitter and Instagram_._