Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 (IANS) Two days after former DGP Tomin J. Thachankary was sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case, another former DGP’s social media post about the facilities at Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail has attracted considerable attention.

Retired IPS officer R. Sreelekha, who became Kerala’s first woman DGP and is now a BJP councillor in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, posted on Saturday that the hospital block of the Central Jail was much cleaner and better equipped than the regular cells.

She listed the facilities at the hospital block: good beds, mattresses, pillows, fans, clean toilets, separate accommodation, a well-maintained garden and special food.

Then came the line that caught attention.

“I had improved all this when I was DGP of the Prisons Department. I am happy if someone is benefiting from it now,” she wrote.

Sreelekha did not name anyone in the post.

But the timing, and the fact that Thachankary is currently housed in the hospital block after being taken to the Central Jail following his conviction, led many of those commenting on the post to read it as a pointed message to her former senior colleague.

The two officers had a long overlap in the Kerala Police hierarchy. Sreelekha retired from service in 2020, while Thachankary retired in 2023, also serving as a DGP-rank officer.

The timing was particularly striking.

The Kottayam Vigilance Court on Thursday convicted Thachankary in a disproportionate assets case dating back to 2003-07 and sentenced him to four years of rigorous imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 30.84 lakh.

Thachankary, who has reported health problems, was subsequently lodged in the prison hospital block.

His transfer to a regular cell will depend on medical advice, according to prison officials.

Sreelekha’s post, therefore, offered an unusual footnote to a dramatic week in the careers of two former top police officers, one recalling how she improved a prison facility, and another now having to use it.

Thachankary’s bail plea is to come up for disposal on Tuesday at the High Court.

–IANS

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