Activist Jomon seeks probe against senior Kerala bureaucrats for targeting IPS officer

Thiruvananthapuram: Activist Jomon Puthenpurackal has submitted a complaint to chief minister V D Satheesan seeking a probe against senior bureaucrats, alleging forgery, abuse of power and manipulation of vigilance procedures to target IPS officer Yogesh Gupta and shield former chief principal secretary K M Abraham. The complaint accused chief secretary A Jayathilak, additional chief secretary (home and vigilance) Biswanath Sinha and former chief principal secretary to the ex-CM K M Abraham of acting in concert to interfere in vigilance processes, create forged documents and delay the vigilance clearance report sent to the Centre. In the complaint, Puthenpurackal referred to the April 11, 2025, order of the high court directing registration of a disproportionate assets case against Abraham based on a petition filed by him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He alleged that despite the court directing the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (VACB) to hand over all documents to the CBI, Sinha instructed the then VACB director Gupta not to provide the records.The complaint further alleged that Sinha had previously interfered in vigilance investigations by directly contacting SP-rank officers in sensitive cases. Puthenpurackal also accused the officials of delaying Gupta's vigilance status report required for his empanelment to director general-level posts at the Centre.Despite receiving clear reports from the VACB and the state police chief, the file was allegedly kept pending for over four months, even after repeated reminders from the Union ministry of home affairs. Puthenpurackal stated that Gupta later approached the Central Administrative Tribunal, which directed the state govt to forward the vigilance clearance report within five days. The complaint alleged that after the tribunal order, a "forged pre-dated anonymous complaint" was created to adversely affect Gupta's empanelment prospects and that misleading remarks regarding a confidential inquiry were included while forwarding the vigilance report to the Centre.Puthenpurackal claimed that the central vigilance commission and the Union govt later found Gupta's vigilance status to be clear and subsequently empanelled him for DG-rank posts.Seeking action, the complaint demanded that Sinha and Jayathilak be shifted from sensitive posts, an FIR be registered against them and a detailed vigilance inquiry be conducted against Abraham.