In the 2004 Malayalam film Kathavasheshan, Indrans played the memorable role of a thief who is robbed by a policeman. He is deeply saddened that along with the rest of his belongings, he loses his harmonium too.
In a case of real life imitating cinema, a similar incident took place last week at Taliparamba police station in Kannur district. A police officer allegedly stole money from a thief, and the latter who was in custody, lost nearly Rs 50,000.
Kannur Rural SP Navaneeth Sharma told TNM that Civil Police Officer EN Sreekanth was suspended for allegedly stealing from a person who was in custody. A theft case has also been registered against the police officer.
On April 3, Gokul (28) from Pulliparamba near Taliparamba, was arrested for stealing money and an ATM card from Manoj, a native of Chokli. Gokul, along with his sister, was traveling in Manoj's auto-rickshaw when the vehicle had a breakdown. Gokul offered to repair it and somehow managed to get hold of Manoj's wallet. Taliparamba police said that Manoj later noticed that Rs 2,000 and his ATM card were missing from the wallet. Gokul had also managed to get the PIN of the card and had withdrawn money from Manoj's account.
When Gokul was arrested following Manoj's complaint, he carried his sister's ATM card with him. "He had told the police that he had transferred the stolen money to his sister's account. Sreekanth knew about this and he took the card from Gokul. He convinced Gokul's sister that the police require the PIN for the investigation. After getting the PIN from her, he withdrew money from different ATMs. When the sister received notifications about the cash withdrawals, she met Deputy Superintendent of Police KE Premachandran and a case was charged," another police officer from Taliparamba police station said.
He added that no other policemen at the station knew about Sreekanth's plan. Taliparamba DySP Premachandran was in charge of the investigation in Manoj's case too.
The DySP ordered Taliparamba Circle Inspector B Jayakumar to investigate the complaint filed by Gokul and his sister, following which it was revealed that Sreekanth had withdrawn the money from different ATM kiosks.
Unlike in Kadhavaseshan, the senior officials were ready to help Gokul, even though he is an accused.