Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has suspended Director General of Police (DGP) Jacob Thomas on charges of violating service rules, officials said on Wednesday.

The suspension order came on Tuesday night.

Thomas was suspended from service by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for violating the All India Service Rules after it surfaced that the officer had spoken about breakdown of law and order in the state and the way cyclone Ockhi was handled.

Thomas became the Vigilance Director the day Vijayan became the Chief Minister in May last year.

But relations between the two started to sour when, earlier this year, Thomas was asked to go on leave. After a few months, he was told to head a state-run management institute.

Thomas said he was yet to see or get the suspension order.

MP’S RESIGNATION

Kerala Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader MP Veerendra Kumar resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, days after rebel party leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar were disqualified from the Upper House.

Addressing reporters here, the 80-year-old who was also the JD-U state chairman, said he submitted his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu.

“I resigned because as per the rules, I am a member of (Bihar Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar’s party and I should sit with them. But now he has moved to follow the Sangh Parivar agenda and I just cannot accept that,” the leader said.

“I know I got this seat last year when I was a part of the Socialist Janata Democratic (SJD) party in Kerala, which was part of the Congress led UDF. Later after my election, the SJD merged with the JD-U.

“But now with Nitish tagging along with Sangh Parivar forces and the BJP, I do not want to be a burden to the UDF by being tagged with Nitish Kumar. Also I checked with Election Commission and with Rajya Sabha and I found out that legally and technically, I will not be able to be a member outside of Nitish Kumar’s party and hence I have quit,” he added. Nitish Kumar’s decision to break away from the Grand Alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress in Bihar and align with the BJP-led NDA in July triggered a rebellion in the party.

Indo-Asian News Service