The State government has suspended Deputy Inspector General of Police (Headquarters), Prisons and Correctional Services, M.K. Vinod Kumar, on alleged corruption charges.
The office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had indicted Mr. Kumar last week for abusing his official position to amass illicit wealth.
The VACB’s FIR accuses Mr. Kumar of seeking sizeable backhanders from relatives of convicts for facilitating their parole. The agency alleged that Mr. Kumar also sought money to grant “criminals” special privileges in prison, including the ability to network with their associates outside.
The VACB said Mr. Kumar’s patronage network covered the Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur, and Viyyur Central prisons. Investigators said the agency would investigate whether other prison department officials benefited from the racket.
They told Mr. Kumar also threatened to set harsh conditions for convicts, including denial of parole, if their relatives did not meet the network’s demand for cash.
The VACB had registered the FIR and conducted a preliminary investigation based on several complaints received at the agency’s headquarters here from relatives of convicts and a few lawyers.
The VACB told the court that Mr. Kumar also moved some of the illegal proceeds from the corruption racket to his wife’s bank accounts via Google Pay. It was also probing Mr. Kumar’s financial transactions with other persons, including those in the latter’s department.
The government said Mr. Kumar will remain outside service until the VACB completed the probe.
Published – December 23, 2025 08:23 pm IST
