The State Police Crime Branch revealed on Sunday that it had formally recorded the arrest of former State Police Chief T.P. Senkumar on July 29 on the suspicion of having made comments that could be construed as disruptive to communal peace.
Mr. Senkumar, who was granted anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court, had been named as accused in a case registered by the State Police Cyber Cell under section 153 (a) that relates to promoting enmity between communities.
Investigators said Mr. Senkumar had appeared in person before the investigating officer as per the bail condition set by the court.
Private complaint
A private complaint based on a purported interview Mr. Senkumar allegedly gave an online magazine had resulted in the registration of the case against him.
The former SPC has maintained that he had granted no such interview. The scribe had visited him seeking clarifications on an article he had earlier published on Mr. Senkumar.
Mr. Senkumar reportedly told investigators that the scribe had surreptitiously recorded his conversation and then edited and falsified it for his own unknown ends. The dubious voice recording was also widely circulated in social media.
The Crime Branch had earlier seized the scribe’s phone and produced it in court as evidence. The court sent it to the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory for digital analysis.
The laboratory has submitted its report to the court.
Officials privy to the process said the forensic investigators had found no recording of the so-called incriminating conversation on the phone.
Conversation edited
The so-called version of the conversation published on social media was heavily edited and had little evidential value, they said.