Ahead of the assembly elections in Kerala, a bureaucratic reshuffle is on the cards and hectic lobbying is on for top police posts. The North Indian lobby of IPS officers in the state is pitching for ADGP Sudesh Kumar (IPS:1987:KL), who is likely to be promoted as DGP by this month end and may be given the post of the state police chief. Sudesh Kumar has also the blessings of current State Police Chief Loknath Behera (IPS:1985:KL) who will be stepping down next month.
Another front runner, DGP Tomin J Thachankary (IPS:1987:KL), who was recently promoted to the rank of DGP, is considered to be very close to the Left government. When the bad blood between former state police chief T P Senkumar and the state government reached a flash point in 2017, Thachankary was given the charge of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Administration, by the state government to take control of the state police headquarters. Thachankary is one of the senior most police officers in the state, though, the North Indian lobby favours vigilance director Sudesh kumar over Thachankary.
Another front runner, Special Protection Group director Arun Kumar Sinha (IPS:1987:KL), is on central deputation, and is unlikely to come back to Kerala. Though DGP Rishiraj Singh (IPS:1985:KL) and DGP R Sreelekha (IPS:1987:KL) are senior to Thachankary, they would not be considered for the post as the former retires from service in July 2021 and the latter this month.
