Kochi police commissioner Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar transferred over alleged lapses in Mercedes crash probe

Kochi City Police Commissioner Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar was transferred on Wednesday in view of alleged lapses in Kochi Mercedes-Benz car crash case investigation. R Nishanthini, a 2008-batch IPS officer, was appointed as the new city police commissioner.

Kochi City Police Commissioner Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar, who was transferred in view of alleged lapses in Mercedes car crash case (Sourced)The action comes one day after four officers, including a circle inspector, attached to the Cheranalloor police station were suspended in connection with the investigation.

A 55-year-old rider had died after a 17-year-old boy rammed his Mercedes-Benz into his scooter in Kochi on October 25. ADGP (Law and Order) P Vijayan visited the accident site and held discussions with the victim’s family in Kochi on Tuesday.

He submitted a report to the Home Department highlighting lapses by the police during the preliminary probe. Mahesh Kumar was found to have failed to intervene effectively in the investigation and take stringent action against the accused.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told the Assembly on Tuesday that the police had committed a “grave error” by failing to invoke stringent charges against the minor accused in the crash case. The failure to apply the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the accused resulted in the minor being released on station bail and later being granted by the juvenile magistrate.

The accused's father, an additional district judge, has been charged under the Motor Vehicles Act but has not been arrested yet. A 17-year-old allegedly rammed his Mercedes Benz into a scooter, killing its rider in Keralam’s Kochi in the early hours of Sunday.

According to police, the accused is the son of an additional district judge, and the car is registered in the judge’s name. Following the incident, police took the teenager into custody. After a medical examination and being produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), he was released in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act’s provisions.

The victim was identified as Jayabalakrishnan (55), a resident of Manjali, who operated a street food cart in the Chittor area of Kochi, said officers. Jayabalakrishnan’s family said he was returning home around 2.30am after closing his food cart when the car rammed his scooter from behind in Cheranalloor.

He died on the spot. “Anyone who knows him would agree that he drives the two-wheeler at a slow speed and would not wilfully cause any accident. When we saw the accident site, it was clear that the car rammed into the scooter at high speed.

My uncle was flung a few hundred metres. The injuries were so severe that he died on the spot,” she said. Vishnu Varma is Assistant Editor and reports from Kerala for the Hindustan Times. He has 10 years of experience writing for print and digital platforms and has worked at The New York Times, NDTV and The Indian Express in the past.

He specialises in longform reportage at the intersections of politics, crime, social commentary and environment.Read More