Lawyer couple allege harassment by cop

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is not uncommon to find allegations being levelled against police officers for misuse of power. The latest to join the list is Vizhinjam Circle Inspector Dinil. He has been accused of harassing and falsely implicating a lawyer couple, Suresh Kumar and Rejitha Rani, in several cases.   The couple, residing at Vizhinjam Theatre Junction, alleged that the inspector, using his authority, had falsely implicated them in criminal cases for refusing to withdraw a case that they had filed at Vizhinjam Police Station. The couple had filed a complaint in this regard with the Chief Minister’s Grievance Redressal Cell and with the Director General of Police (DGP). They also filed a complaint with Neyyattinkara and Thiruvananthapuram Bar Associations, following which the associations passed a resolution against the inspector.  Advocate Suresh Kumar said that the problems that his family was facing were due to a land dispute with neighbours. He owned a two-storeyed building at Theatre Junction, which he has given out on rent to commercial enterprises. There existed a legal conflict with the neighbours over the ownership of a strip of land that was used as a walkway. The problems got worse when CI Dinil took charge at Vizhinjam three months ago, he said.  “Instead of taking a neutral stand on the issue and conducting an unbiased probe, the inspector favoured the neighbours and threatened my family to withdraw the complaint filed at the Vizhinjam Police Station. We had engaged in several verbal fights over the issue. The outraged inspector even manhandled my wife in public once,” alleged Suresh Kumar.  The advocate also said that the inspector also conspired to register two criminal cases against the him, one at Vizhinjam Police Station for alleged vulgar display before women and the other at Neyyattinkara station for assaulting a witness in the land dispute case.  However, the inspector dismissed all the allegations. “I have asked both the parties to resolve the issue in a peaceful manner. The police did not even intervene since the dispute was already before the court,” said Dinil. M Radhakrishnan Nair, Assistant Commissioner, Fort, who conducted a probe following the petition filed before the DGP, also said that he had found the allegations baseless and had filed a report in this regard.