The civil action against State Police Chief (SPC) Shaik Darvesh Saheb for his alleged failure to honour a land sale agreement involving a property owned by his wife has raised serious questions about ethics and arguably cast the government and law enforcement in an unflattering light.
The episode, which could ignite political controversy, came to light recently when an additional sub-court in Thiruvananthapuram provisionally attached a 10-cent property in Mr. Sahib’s wife’s name in Peroorkada.
The complainant, a Gulf returnee, Umar Sherif, alleged that he had paid a sizeable amount from his life savings as an advance to Mr. Saheb to purchase the land to build a house.
He said he handed over some money in person to Mr. Saheb at the latter’s office in the State Police Headquarters. Both parties executed a sale-purchase agreement in 2023.
On Monday, Mr. Sherif stirred the pot and generated a heated mainstream and social media debate by “divulging” the transaction’s “behind-the-screen” details.
In the process, Mr. Sherif also seemed to inadvertently cast the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and its Public Grievances Cell in an apathetic Kafkaesque glare by stating that his uphill efforts to move the high office for a compassionate and speedy remedy to his predicament fell flat.
‘Stonewalled efforts’
Mr. Sherif alleged that an official at the CMO stonewalled his efforts to meet Pinarayi Vijayan in person and turned him back with the advice to settle the issue quietly.
Mr. Sherif claimed that he was constrained to move the court after he learned, to his dismay, that the plot was heavily mortgaged.
Moreover, the seller was allegedly reluctant to show him the original land deed, raising suspicions of an attempt to conceal the encumbrance on the property.
Mr. Saheb has yet to respond to the development. The litigation against his family was entirely civil and carried scarce criminal jeopardy. Moreover, Mr. Sherif has evinced interest in a settlement.
However, the episode raised ethical questions at a time when the Opposition assailed law enforcement for abuse of office, criminal nexus, and corruption, leaving the public concerned about the lack of response.
