CPI seeks Suresh Gopi’s prosecution for “misusing” ambulance for private transport to dodge police restrictions on Thrissur Pooram Day

Union Minister Suresh Gopi. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Saturday (September 28, 2024) petitioned the Thrissur Police Commissioner to prosecute the Union Minister of State for Tourism and veteran Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi, MP, for allegedly using a private ambulance to dodge law enforcement restrictions and reach the festival grounds on Thrissur Pooram Day. 

In his petition, CPI Thrissur mandala secretary Sumesh K.P. alleged Mr. Gopi’s use of an ambulance operated by Seva Bharathi, a non-profit organisation under the aegis of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to arrive at the Thiruvambadi Devaswom’s office in the festival area violated Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) rules. 

Mr. Sumesh also submitted a mobile phone capture showing Mr. Gopi stepping out of an ambulance inside the ‘restricted‘ festival area.

The petition came against the backdrop of across-the-political-aisle accusations of the police disrupting Pooram to stoke Hindu resentment that arguably aided Mr Gopi’s emphatic win in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency. 

Mr Gopi’s electoral rival and CPI leader, V.S. Sunil Kumar, had accused the police of restricting Revenue Minister K. Rajan from entering the festival area while waving the ambulance ferrying Mr.Gopi through.

Political leaders had rushed to the Pooram grounds after the festival stopped following a police-Devaswom-public stand-off over “unreasonable pedestrian traffic restrictions and traditional fireworks”.

The CPI said the police had accorded Mr Gopi the image of a leader intent on salvaging the Pooram by allowing him inside the Devasom office in what appeared to be a made-for-television event.

Congress candidates for the Thrissur LS segment, K. Muraleedharan and Mr. Sunil, rejected the police report last week, ruling out a political conspiracy behind the Pooram disruption. 

The report, authored by Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order M.R. Ajith Kumar, who helmed the Pooram’s conduct, blamed the festival disruption on the non-cooperation of Devaswom officials and policing errors.

Both CPI and Congress repudiated the findings and flagged a conflict of interest between Mr Ajith Kumar’s role as the architect of the “flawed” police arrangements for Pooram and the officer’s capacity as the principal investigator of the iconic event’s disruption. 

On Saturday, CPI State Secretary Binoy Viswam further hardened his stance that the government remove Mr Ajith Kumar from the top post for allegedly having secretly parleyed with the top RSS leadership. 

A departmental enquiry was underway against Mr Ajith Kumar for allegedly crossing an official line to hold secret talks with the apex-level RSS leadership, reportedly without governmental sanction and in purported violation of the LDF policy and Indian Police Service (IPS) rules. 

Mr Ajith turned up at the State Police Headquarters on Friday to have his statement recorded in the presence of State Police Chief Shaikh Darvesh Sahib. The interview lasted several hours.