Kerala terminates rape accused police officer from service

He was under suspension for last two months and last week he was asked to appear before the director general of police (DGP) but he skipped it, citing medical grounds, an official in the know of the matter said.

The Kerala police on Monday terminated the service of station house officer of costal police station in Beypore (Kozhikode) P R Sunu who was allegedly involved in several cases, including a gang rape in Kochi, office of the state police chief Anil Kant said.

Facing many cases, he was dismissed under the Section 86 of the police act, said DGP’s office. (Representative Image)

He was under suspension for last two months and last week he was asked to appear before the director general of police (DGP) but he skipped it, citing medical grounds, an official in the know of the matter said. Facing many cases, he was dismissed under the Section 86 of the police act, said DGP’s office. Former commissioner of Kochi C H Nagaraju had conducted a probe into charges against the controversial officer and recommended that he was “unfit to the force” and sought strict action against him.

The officer had faced departmental action 15 times in connection with various cases and was suspended twice but he managed to get plum postings. His crime came to spotlight after a housewife filed a gang rape case against him and four others. In her compliant, the woman said when her husband was arrested in connection with a job scam in last May, five accused including Sunu raped her on the pretext of saving her husband. She filed a police complaint in November after some of the accused continued to harass her. He was made third accused in the case.

Besides this case, he had been facing many cases for indecent behaviour, third degree application on accused and ignoring orders of superiors. “We will take strict action against erring ones. The government has made it clear that it will not tolerate such elements in the force,” said the statement from the DGP’s office. But Sunu termed the action “illegal and unwanted” and said he will take legal recourse.

Third degree treatment (brute force) in police stations, custody deaths and criminal past of some of the officers were giving enough headaches for the CPI(M)-led government. According to a data presented in the state assembly last year, at least 744 police officials were involved in criminal cases and out of them 18 were removed from service while 691 faced departmental actions.

Police cut a sorry figure last year when senior police officers’ names cropped up for propping up an alleged antique dealer Monson Mavunkal. A senior IPS officer G Lakshman, alleged to be a close aide of Mavunkal, was under suspension since last year.

The master trickster and connoisseur of arts, who took many biggies for a ride, is cooling his heels in jail since his arrest in October 2021.