‘Doubts prevail over ADGP’s role in upsetting Pooram’

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan blamed the media for cooking up stories over the Thrissur Pooram disruption and the content of the police probe report on the same, CPI once again raised serious objections to the manner in which ADGP (law and order) M R Ajith Kumar behaved during Pooram and later filed a report, allegedly dismissing all allegations against him.
An editorial published in Janayugam daily, the mouthpiece of CPI, on Tuesday said the allegations against the ADGP would stand valid until proved otherwise. It hoped that there would be valid justifications for the delay on the part of the ADGP in submitting his report on the disruption of Pooram. "It's quite natural to suspect deliberate designs behind the attempts to create an impression that there was no police probe into the Pooram disruption and the hurried manner in which the ADGP later submitted the report. If media reports are true, the ADGP's report tried to suppress the facts that led to the disruption of Pooram," it said.
The editorial stated there was a strong public belief that ADGP Ajith Kumar played a role in upsetting the Pooram. Several facts available in the public domain gave credence to such a suspicion. It's hard to believe a junior officer was fully responsible for the law and order and security of the Pooram festival, in which lakhs of people participated. Reliable sources confirmed that senior police officers, including the ADGP, were present in Thrissur on Pooram day. ADGP, DIG, commissioner, and ACP had participated in the meeting on the Pooram eve to assess the law and order and security aspects of the festival, the editorial said, adding that a team of police personnel wearing a badge ADGP Strike Force was present on the Pooram ground. The inaction of the ADGP, who was present in the police academy during the Pooram disruption, was dubious, the editorial said.
When media reports indicated that the report prepared by the ADGP tried to hold only the commissioner and devaswoms responsible for the disruption, the objectivity of the investigation report came under question. When the travel of people's representatives, including the revenue minister, to the Pooram venue got disrupted, NDA candidate Suresh Gopi and Sangh Parivar functionaries were able to reach the venue in a Seva Bharathi ambulance and held discussions. This further strengthened the suspicion that the disruption was pre-planned. "Public believe that the Pooram disruption in the last leg of the Lok Sabha election campaign was a purposeful move to ensure the victory of the NDA candidate," it said.