Custodial death case: Senior Kerala Police official transferred
Aluva (Kerala), April 21: A senior Kerala Police official - Ernakulam's Superintendent of Police, Rural, A.V.George was on Saturday was transferred in wake of the ongoing Crime Branch probe into a custodial death in the district.
Already a Sub-Inspector of Police and the three policemen who first took into custody the victim -- Sreejith, 26 -- have been arrested and according to informed police sources, more action against police officials, including George, is imminent.
Incidentally the three arrested policemen all are directly under the charge of George and just before their arrest, the three of them, in a video later shown on TV channels, had feared that they would be made scapegoats to save top officers.
George has been in the news for a while as he was involved in the arrest of PDP leader Abdul Nasir Maudany a few years back, probed the actress kidnap case, which led to the arrest of superstar Dileep and a few other high profile cases.
He was tight-lipped when asked if he felt that this transfer is some sort of a disciplinary action against him.
The action against George has come at a time with the Congress-led opposition are up in arms over the custodial death as State Congress president M.M.Hassan has demanded that George be suspended and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala is going on a 24 hour fast on Monday at Kochi demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the custodial death.
Trouble started for Sreejith after 56-year-old Vasudevan hanged himself after a group of men barged into his house and threatened him.
A special squad took Sreejith, father of a two-year-old, and nine others into custody on April 7 and charged them with abetment to suicide and rioting. Subsequently, Sreejith was taken to a hospital where he died on April 9.
The state government earlier suspended the Circle Inspector, Sub-Inspector Deepak and two other policemen of the Varapuzha police station in the case.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
