Singh and Nina, a team of local cops in tow, went to Riyan Studio on Thursday to do a search. The employees refused to let them in. Soon, IG Thachankary appeared, telling Singh to go away from his wife’s studio. He refused, and an altercation followed. Minutes later, the DGP’s call came telling him to stop the raid, but Singh stood his ground.

The DGP told Singh he was summarily removing him from anti-piracy job, and faxed the order to the local DIG’s office here to be passed on to him.

Both Thachankary and Singh have both been colourful characters in different ways, often hogging headlines for non-police reasons. Thachankary, part-time musician who is into the audio-video business in his wife’s name, is a known protege of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. He had greatly helped Vijayan source the equipment from abroad for setting up the party’s TV channel, Kairali, though he had his share of trouble too. Four years ago, customs men had caught his official gunman who was flying in with him on a Silk Air flight from Singapore, carrying electronic video equipment worth a small fortune. Thachankary claimed he was returning from a personal visit abroad, and had no clue why the gunman was travelling with him.

Singh, on the other hand, was hauled up by the Lok Ayukta but reprieved by the Kerala High Court, after he played the villain in a popular TV soap. He was also the one who sought action against a fellow IG who hit a constable in public. But the turning point was this morning, when an angry VS Achuthanandan stepped into the picture. He summoned the DGP to his official residence, and told him to put Singh back in his job, forthwith. “The DGP told me that Singh is not empowered to conduct a raid, but only function as a nodal officer. I asked him if he wanted that officer to simply sit over information and not act. I asked the DGP if he realised how his action made it look as if my government is abetting such crimes. He had no answer,’’ VS said later. Though police sources insist that the DGP was forced to act the way he did at the instance of the Pinarayi Vijayan camp, an embarrassed Pinarayi acolyte and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan claimed he had no clue about what happened. “I have asked the DGP to give me an explanation,’’ Kodiyeri maintained.

... contd.