Arrival of P.Sasi, removal of top cop in Dileep case set tongues wagging

Thiruvananthapuram, April 25 (IANS) Appointment of P.Sasi as the new political secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week was followed by revamp of top police officials in the state but what caught people's attention was removal of additional director general of police-Crimes- S.Sreejith.

Sreejith was heading the team probing the 2017 actress abduction case in which actor Dileep is the main accused and a related conspiracy case also involving him.

Last week, the Crime branch team had filed a petition seeking cancellation of Dileep's bail. There were also speculations about the probe team summoning the top legal team of Dileep and summoning his wife Kavya Madhavan.

Popular media critic and leading lawyer A.Jayasankar during a debate in a TV channel said that he is not afraid of legal ramification when he says that in this high profile case, all the key people, except Sreejith and a few in the probe team, have all been prevailed upon to alter the fate of the case.

"We all know the role played by Sasi in the now infamous 'ice cream case' (in which the then Industries Minister P.K.Kunhalikutty was literally saved) when he was the powerful political secretary to E.K.Nayanar (1996-2001). The political secretary is the de-facto Home Minister and anyone knowing Sasi, will have no doubts on how he plays his games," said Jayasankar.

Sasi also hails from the Kannur and his appointment indicates that he has regained his position after being kept out of the party and posts in 2011, following a scandal wherein he is alleged to have misbehaved with a woman.

He was given a clean chit by the court in 2018 and since then he has been getting back to the top and he is returning to his old post as political secretary and the biggest shocker came when at the February CPI-M State Party Conference, even without being a delegate to it, he was inducted to the powerful state committee of the CPI-M.

The first salvo was fired by the Women in Cinema Collective raising huge concerns in the removal of Sreejith.

"The fears raised by the victim in the case who is one among us that she feels the case is not going forward in the right manner should be seen with concern on the removal of Sreejith. This has happened at a time when the probe in the case is at its last leg and the court has now given another 45 days more for the probe to be completed. She had raised the issue that the defence legal team in the case has sought the removal of Sreejith and now we are really wary on how things will turn out," wrote the WCC in their Face book.

With Vijayan now in the US for his treatment and not expected to return till the second week of May, Sasi will be in charge of things and only time will tell, if the removal of Sreejith and the arrival of Sasi has any links.