A special vigilance court in Kottayam on Thursday sentenced former DGP Tomin J Thachankary to four years of rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau alleged that the now-retired IPS officer amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2003 and 2007, with a 2007 FIR estimating the excess at as much as 135 percent. The former top cop retired in 2023.

Vigilance court prosecutor K K Sreekanth said apart from undergoing imprisonment for four years, the former DGP has to pay a fine of Rs 30 lakh. “He will have to be lodged in prison as the sentence exceeds three years. The trial court cannot grant bail to him,” he said.

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A charge sheet was filed in the case in 2013, but the trial remained pending and resumed after a directive from the Kerala High Court last year.

The then CPI(M)-led state government had accorded sanction for further investigation against Thachankary in January 2021 and entrusted the probe to another special investigation unit. Bobby Kuruvila, an anti-corruption crusader, challenged the government order, arguing that the government could not have ordered further investigation when criminal proceedings against Thachankary had reached a stage where the final report had already been filed before the special court.

The High Court had expressed concern over the prolonged investigation and delays, attributing some of the delay to the accused’s actions. It also criticised the state for enabling such delays, which undermines public confidence in the justice system. The court had also noticed that there was no new material brought to the government’s notice to seek further investigation in the matter.

In August 2025, a division bench of the High Court directed the special court to expedite the framing of charges against the IPS officer based on the final report already filed before it by the Vigilance.

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Who is Thachankary

A 1987-batch Keralam-cadre IPS officer, Thachankary retired in 2023 as a DGP-rank officer and director general of investigation at the State Human Rights Commission. A high-profile IPS officer in Keralam over the last two decades, Thachankary retired after 36 years in the police in a career that saw him hold some key posts in the police department, but also faced allegations ranging from custodial torture to illegal foreign trips and disproportionate assets.

A tech-savvy officer, Thachankary successfully solved several cybercrimes during his days as IG. But he was also known for his talents outside policing. In the early 1990s, Thachankary hit the headlines as a composer of songs, scoring music for several popular films and devotional songs — the latter forming a major chunk of his studio work.

In the early 2000s, Thachankary renovated the studio of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-controlled Kairali TV — a development that triggered speculation about his relationship with the party.

The arrest of his gunman at Kochi airport on charges of smuggling electronic equipment in 2002 was another low for the officer. The gunman had allegedly been accompanying Thachankary — then a DIG — on a return trip from Singapore to Kochi via Chennai, with a Vigilance probe eventually alleging that the gunman had illegally carried in the equipment with the knowledge of his boss.

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The gunman had joined Thachankary only from Chennai airport, the operation allegedly revealed. Investigators also alleged that the IPS officer had flown to foreign countries 72 times between 1996 and 2001. The probe did not meet its logical end, prompting allegations of political pressure

Thachankary’s career has seen allegations of custodial torture. As an ASP in Alappuzha in 1991, he faced charges of brutal custodial torture after a 36-year-old youth, who reported the suicide of a woman neighbour, alleged he was illegally detained and tortured for a week.

In 2004, he was appointed head of the special unit to end the piracy menace that had crippled the film industry. As the boss of the anti-piracy cell, the IG himself appeared in TV promos against pirated CDs. Two years later, a fellow IPS officer, who had succeeded him as head of the anti-piracy cell, raided Riyan Studio in Kochi, launched by his wife Anita.

In July 2007, Thachankary was suspended from service after the disproportionate assets allegations, but the suspension was revoked two years later, and he was posted as the IG of North Kerala zone. The posting came despite reservations expressed by then chief minister V S Achuthanandan. While he was still suspended, Thachankary’s mother had reportedly approached CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat.

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In 2009, after his suspension was revoked, Thachankary was sent to question suspected LeT militant Tadiyantavide Nasir as the IG of North Kerala. That assignment, which came during a phase of infighting within the CPI(M), triggered a row, with then chief minister V S Achuthanandan also questioning the decision to depute him.