Recently, five Kerala police officers were suspended for assaulting a serving Indian Army soldier named Vishnu (30) and his brother Vignesh (25) in August. Media reports suggest that the erring officers have deep links with the banned terrorist outfit, the Popular Front of India (PFI). It is alleged that police higher-ups in the PFI-linked Pacha Velicham (Green Light) group tried their best to hide the crime but failed.

So-called mainstream media networks hid the fact that the main culprit was a sub-inspector named Anish Mohammad. Others went a step ahead and mentioned the names of the accused as Kilikolloor Station House Officer Vinod K, Sub Inspector Anish AP, Assistant Sub Inspector Prakash Chandran, and another Civil Police Officer (CPO), Manikanthan Pillai. They showcased the last names of just four officers and deliberately hid Anish Mohammad’s full name. Another accused policeman named Omanakuttan is missing from the list of most media reports.

Police officer Anish Mohd., who beat up a soldier in Kilikollur in a way that even terrorists could not, is allegedly a PFI undercover operative. Even Abhinandan Varthaman, the brave fighter pilot and Wing Commander in the Indian Air Force, escaped unhurt from the clutches of the Pakistan army. Still, Vishnu could not escape from the hands of Kerala police unscathed.  

Information that Mohd. is allegedly a radical Islamist was exposed (news archived here) by an ex-Muslim rationalist, public speaker, and social activist named Jamitha Teacher. At first glance, the accused’s name was Anish, and everyone might have thought he was a Hindu. Mainstream media hid his full name, she added. Now-banned PFI had a habit of deliberately recruiting criminal Islamists with Hindu names, it is alleged.  

As per Jamitha, Mohammad is one of the 873 known Kerala police officers believed to be associated with the dreaded Pacha Velicham (Green Light) group of terrorists who have infiltrated the police service as per the National Investigative Agency (NIA). It is also alleged that many officers in Kilikollur police station were in cahoots with Anish Mohammad. The horrible incident at Kilikollur in the communally sensitive Kollam district is not coincidental since the region is infested with radical Islamists.

Kerala police initially tried to hush up the incident by merely transferring the criminal police officers to different police stations. They were suspended from service only after the Army intervened and sought a report from the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) about the incident. Now that the incident has gained national attention, everyone from the south zone DIG R Nishanthini, Kollam city police commissioner Merin Joseph, and Kerala state human rights commission to the ruling communist party is scrambling for damage control. 

The original incident happened on August 25 when Vishnu (30), an Army soldier posted in Rajasthan, came back on leave to get married. Vignesh and Vishnu were subjected to custodial torture, thrashed by the Kerala Police, and falsely implicated in a fabricated drug case. The soldier was so severely beaten that he had to undergo treatment at the hospital. 

Vignesh told reporters that CPO Pillai had called him to the Kilikollur police station. Pillai requested Vignesh to serve as the bail surety for a man named Ananthu and three others. When Vignesh arrived at the station, he realized Ananthu and the rest were accused in a narcotics case and declined to get involved. Manikantan had withheld the specifics of the case from him over the phone. Vignesh works with the CPM’s youth arm, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

Police claimed that two youths, who came to meet the accused in an MDMA drug trafficking case, broke into the police station and ‘assaulted the officers’. Mohd. spread this fake news, invited the press, and released photos of the brothers, claiming they had broken the law. This phony narrative had appeared in several media outlets back then. CCTV evidence, finally made public, refutes the police’s assertion that the brothers were the ones who started the violence.

The CCTV footage clearly shows that it was SI Anish Mohd. who first slapped the soldier. They were stripped and dragged into the police lockup, where the assault continued. Action will be taken against more officers once the departmental investigation of the police is completed.

Initially, the police claimed that they did not physically assault the brothers. Later, according to the statement given by a lady sub-inspector named Swathi to the magistrate, the CI and SI had indeed caned the army soldier and his brother. This revelation proves that Kilimanoor police officers lied. As soon as the news about the PFI-linked officer Anish Mohd. started appearing, the airtime for this news disappeared on major news channels.

Not only were the brothers tortured at the police station, but they were also placed under judicial detention for 12 days. Vishnu was on leave for his wedding when the police wrongfully charged him in the narcotics case, and his marriage was called off. He had been in love with a lady for almost six years, and Anish Mohd. destroyed the relationship with a single blow. Vignesh had cleared the physicals to join the Kerala police, but he will no longer be eligible because of his disabilities. He lamented that he could not even lift a spoon and would not be able to make a living doing even manual labor.

Anish Mohd. threatened Vishnu that he would damage his shooting finger and consequently leave him unable to pull a trigger. The alleged PFI undercover agent showed his true colors when he told Vishnu that he would only salute the solider when he came home in a body bag from the border. When Vignesh requested water to drink, the officers instructed the brothers to consume their urine. 

Central intelligence agencies are also investigating why Anish Mohd. created chaos during temple festivals. They have allegedly received evidence that several PFI leaders were close friends with the police officer. Some police higher-ups also helped Mohd. and tried to rescue him in Kilikollur. A Kerala special branch report that held only two policemen guilty was a part of this cover up, but their efforts were unsuccessful. The stage is set for a central inquiry into the Kilikollur lockup torture. 

Defense minister Rajnath Singh has ordered a detailed inquiry based on the complaint filed by the family of the soldier Vishnu. BJP MP from Karnataka and Minister of State for Skill Development entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, himself a Keralite, has assured necessary help to Vishnu’s family. 

Anger is brewing against Malayali actor Mohanlal’s silence on the issue. He was formally inducted into the Territorial Army with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2009. Ideally, he should have been the first to help Vishnu and his family when the incident became public, but he did not.

Officers from the Madras Regiment arrived at Kollam and gathered primary information from Vishnu’s family members. Local police failed in the procedures to be followed while taking a soldier into custody. Different investigations will be conducted at the defense ministry and the Army level. In a major embarrassment to Kerala police, it is reported that an explanation will be sought, including from the Kollam city police commissioner. Merin Joseph will have to appear in person and explain what happened. 

Widespread protests are brewing throughout the state against police action from various quarters. A march and dharna were held at Kilikollur police station under the leadership of ex-servicemen. It does not take an expert to understand that a civil war is brewing in Kerala, courtesy of overground PFI workers. Unless a thorough vetting of the existing police force in Kerala and the arrest/dismissal of PFI-linked officers happens, the situation will only worsen.