The Kerala High Court suspended former DGP Tomin J Thachankary's four-year prison sentence. The order offers interim relief while his disproportionate assets conviction and fine remain under appeal.
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Kochi,Oct 15, 2026 15:30 IST
The Kerala High Court on Thursday suspended the four-year prison sentence imposed on former director general of police Tomin J Thachankary in a disproportionate assets case, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
Justice A Badharudeen granted the relief while considering Thachankary's appeal against a vigilance court order sentencing him to four years' rigorous imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs 30.84 lakh.
According to PTI, Thachankary said in his appeal that the case registered by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau initially covered assets allegedly amassed between January 1, 2003, and March 1, 2005. The period was later extended to July 4, 2007.
His petition said searches were conducted at several premises on July 4, 2007, and documents were seized. After the investigation, a final report was filed and the case was transferred between vigilance courts before the Vigilance Court in Kottayam took it up in 2020.
The petition said the state government later ordered a further investigation after Thachankary complained that several sources of his income had not been considered and that the investigating officer had made errors in the calculations.
The High Court subsequently cancelled the government's order, holding that the government did not have the authority to order such an investigation. However, it allowed the investigating agency to use the evidence collected during that probe, the appeal said.
Thachankary alleged that none of those documents was produced before the trial court despite his application under Rule 19(4) of the Kerala Criminal Rules of Practice, PTI reported.
He also said that, when questioned under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure during the trial, he had denied the circumstances cited against him. He submitted an additional statement explaining what he claimed were errors in the calculations and the circumstances in which he was falsely implicated.
In his appeal, Thachankary argued that the conviction was illegal and could not be sustained, alleging that the evidence had been wrongly assessed and that the court had relied on incorrect calculations by the investigating officers.
The High Court has now suspended Thachankary's four-year sentence as it considers his challenge to the conviction and the Rs 30.84 lakh fine in the disproportionate assets case.
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