The Kerala Police suspended five officers attached to the former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s personal security detail on Tuesday. 

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the Crime Branch charged the officers with overstepping their line of official duty and unleashing wanton violence against the tiny group of Youth Congress workers who were detained by the local law enforcement to prevent them from greeting Mr Vijayan’s Nava Kerala Sadas motorcade with black flags when it entered Alappuzha in November 2023.

The police identified the suspended officers as Mr Vijayan’s “gun man and aide-de-camp” Anil Kumar, and his subordinates, S Sandeep, Arun, Vipin and Shaiju. 

The prosecution’s case is that the squad “unjustifiably” stepped out of their escort vehicle after the air-conditioned luxury coach ferrying Mr Vijayan and his Cabinet colleagues had swept past the point, and caned the roadside protesters, who numbered less than three, and were already in police custody. 

The visuals of the incident went viral on social and conventional media, triggering a political storm. Those injured in the attack included A D Thomas, who is currently a legislator representing the Alappuzha constituency.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), then in the Opposition, cried foul, accusing the police of acting as the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s catspaw. The UDF also linked the Alappuzha incident to instances of “vigilante groups” of CPI(M) workers attacking Opposition black-flag protesters as Mr Vijayan’s Nava Kerala Sadas meandered through the State, and made it a major campaign issue that seemed to have resonated among voters in Alappuzha in the Assembly elections. 

The UDF attacked Mr Vijayan in the Assembly for “callously” lauding the police and also CPI(M) activists as “rescue workers” who risked their lives for saving Opposition protestors from the peril of getting run over by the motorcade. He also denied having seen the visuals of the Alappuzha incident involving his security detail. 

The initial investigation under the Left Democratic Front (UDF) government sputtered out, with the State police giving the officers a clean chit, and terming the action as justifiable use of force to protect Mr Vijayan. Subsequently, Congress moved the court, which ordered the registration of a criminal case.

The UDF government fast-tracked the case by appointing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by SP, Crime Branch, Shoukathali. The SIT reportedly found the officials culpable, necessitating their suspension from service pending further inquiry. The accused officers have moved the court for anticipatory bail, claiming that the contentious police action fell within the bounds of their official duty and their “victimisation” was a “political payback”.