DGP removes inspector PR Sunu from service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state police have removed inspector PR Sunu from service with immediate effect for behaviour unbecoming of a police officer.
State police chief Anil Kant issued the order on Monday removing Sunu from service under section 86 of the Kerala Police Act, which says that no person shall be eligible for appointment as a police officer or shall have the right to continue in employment as a police officer if that person, is found mentally, physically or behaviourally unfit for carrying out duties of police. The section also says that if a police officer, at any time after appointment, is found belonging to any of the categories of conditions making him unfit of being a police officer, the appointing authority can immediately place him under suspension, and after giving reasonable opportunity to prove otherwise, dismiss, remove or compulsorily retire the officer from service. It is for the first time that police are using this section against a member of the force.
"Sunu is in the habit of committing delinquencies regularly without reform, thereby making him behaviourally unfit to carry out the duties of a police officer," said the four-page proceedings issued by the state police chief. It further said that taking into consideration all the facts on record and the gravity of the delinquency committed, his punishment is being fixed as "removal from the service of the state government".
As part of the inquiry, Sunu, who has been arraigned in multiple cases, the state police chief had summoned the officer before him for a personal hearing last Tuesday. Since he did not turn up, citing "medical reasons", he was given an online hearing the next day. He was asked to explain why he should not be dismissed from service if there is any.
Earlier, the state police chief had served a show cause notice to Sunu, for which he had furnished a detailed reply running to more than 40 pages. In the show cause notice, it has been said he had exploited a woman belonging to SC/ST category in Thrissur in 2019.
Sunu was placed on suspension based on a report from the Kochi city police commissioner, who reported that the officer has connections with anti-social elements. Sunu, who has been accused in a gang rape case registered by Thrikkakara police and is the third accused in the case, was taken into custody from Kozhikode in November last year and was let off after interrogating him for the want of evidence against him. He is accused in six criminal cases and has also faced multiple departmental inquiries.