M.R. Ajith Kumar (file)
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has informed the Kerala government that a preliminary anti-graft inquiry into Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) M.R. Ajith Kumar revealed no cognisable offence that would warrant further investigation or the registration of a first information report (FIR) under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018.
A top official told The Hindu that the agency had given its report regarding the veracity of Kerala coordinator of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) P.V. Anvar’s slew of sensational corruption charges against Mr. Ajith Kumar to the government last week.
Officials noted that if the government accepts the VACB’s report, it can lead to Mr. Ajith Kumar’s potential inclusion in the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) shortlist of candidates eligible for elevation as Kerala’s State Police Chief (SPC).
The UPSC will likely submit its recommendations in July. The government will choose the top post from the UPSC panel of at least six ranking officers. Customarily, the government promotes those passed over for the SPC’s post as Directors General of Police (DGP).
Last year, Mr. Anvar, then a Left front legislator, stirred a stormy political controversy that briefly put the government on the defensive by accusing Mr. Ajith Kumar and his “backers in the Chief Minister Office (CMO)“ of amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income, chiefly by supposedly receiving significant cuts from contraband gold interdictions carried out by an allegedly rogue plainclothes squad operating beyond the pale of law in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts during 2023-24.
Officials stated that the VACB saw little merit in Mr. Anvar’s accusation that Mr. Ajith Kumar had acquired prime property in Kowdiar in Thiruvananthapuram using illicit wealth. Furthermore, the VACB determined that Mr. Ajith Kumar had secured a significant loan from a nationalised bank to purchase the residential plot.
It also uncovered no proof to substantiate Mr. Anvar’s allegation that Mr. Ajith Kumar benefitted from real estate transactions, including selling a premium high-rise apartment in Thiruvananthapuram.
In several back-to-back and arguably muckraking press conferences that riveted media attention for months, Mr. Anvar had also accused the police of having a bias against minorities in north Kerala and conspiring to portray Malappuram as a hub of gold smugglers and lawbreakers, eliciting a strong denial from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Published – March 25, 2025 01:49 pm IST
