The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s personal security detail for the assault on Youth Congress’s black-flag protesters in Alappuzha in November 2023 claimed to have uncovered an “entrenched effort” on the part of the highest levels of law enforcement to insulate the accused officers from legal jeopardy. 

In a statement of fact submitted at the District and Sessions Court in Alappuzha, the charging officer, M. Baiju Paulose, claimed that the SIT had come across instances of brazen subversion of law, including “framing of incorrect records, suppression and substitution of evidence” on the part of “previous investigating and supervisory officers” to “shield the accused from prosecution and disciplinary action.” 

No ‘defensible reason’

Mr Paulose deposed that the officers lacked a “defensible reason“ to step out of their escort vehicle and attack the protesters who were “successfully detained” by the local police to prevent them from waving black flags at the specially designed bus ferrying Mr Vijayan and his then Cabinet colleagues to the State-sponsored Nava Kerala Sadas function in the district.

The SIT accused the officers of violating Z+ category security protocol, as mandated in the Yellow Book, by physically engaging the demonstrators and thereby forsaking their primary duty to provide proximate security to Mr Vijayan and, consequently, overstepping their legal bounds. 

Bus was not under attack

The SIT also sought to puncture the previous administration’s theory that the demonstrators had sought to imperil Mr Vijayan by attacking his bus with stones and sticks. It told the court that the driver had testified that the VIP vehicle was not under attack at the time and that the bus sustained no damage. The SIT claimed that the security detail had attacked the Youth Congress protesters well after Mr Vijayan’s convoy swept past the point. 

The SIT submitted visual records of the events, the statements of the injured Youth Congress workers, A.D. Thomas, currently the Alappuzha MLA, Ajay Juel Kuriakose, the local law enforcement, neighbourhood traders, and news camerapersons who recorded the alleged assault, to bolster their case against the security officers, as material evidence in court. The SIT also submitted in court, citing State forensic experts, that the assault had resulted in grievous and potentially fatal injuries.

The accused in the case are Anil Kumar, head of the plainclothes squad, S. Sandeep, V K Shaiju, Arun R, and V V Vipin. The SIT has charged them with a wilful attempt to commit culpable homicide, causing grievous hurt and shared intent to unleash violence as per the sections of the law. 

Politically motivated: suspects

The suspects have moved the court for anticipatory bail, stating that they had discharged their lawful duty to protect the “Principal VIP under Z+ security category”, in this case, Mr Vijayan. They also alleged in court that the SIT’s case against them was politically motivated.

The prosecution has opposed their bail on the grounds that the accused might influence witnesses and attempt to tamper with evidence.