Hectic parleys are going on to ensure Kerala's Director General of Police Shaik Darvesh Saheb, embroiled in a case of a complaint of breach of contract of sale after a local court attached the property owned by his wife, settles the issue and comes out clean.
The case pertains to a sale agreement entered by the DGP's wife with Umar Sherief in June last year. According to the agreement, the sale of 10.8 cents of land owned by her in the city was to be sold to Sherief for Rs 74 lakh. Sherief had told the media that he first paid Rs 15 lakh and later Rs 10 lakh - both through the bank - and then handed over Rs 5 lakh in cash to the DGP in his office which he had acknowledged receiving.
Sherief then made numerous requests to get the documents of the property after paying Rs 30 lakh but to no avail. Later, he got the information that this property was pledged to a commercial bank. Following this, Sherief said he wanted to get back his advance, but the police chief refused, saying that he would return the money after he sold the land to someone else.
Then Sherief approached a local court and got relief when the court attached the property last week, while the DGP got into trouble. Sherief says that all he needs is the money that he has paid as advance for which all the records are there and is not interested in anything else. However, it remains to be seen what action the Income Tax authorities will take as, according to law, receiving the huge sum of Rs 5 lakhs in cash is forbidden - and this money was received by the DGP in his office
As the issue came out on Monday, it is understood that the state police chief is seeking to settle the issue by returning the Rs 30 lakh he had got from Sherief.
Apart from the DGP, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his office are equally now put into trouble as it was on June 24 that Sherief registered a complaint with Vijayan and on 27, the police chief, who was due to superannuate on June 30, was given an extension for one year. Vijayan and his office are facing flak for failing to act against the DGP despite the complaint and instead, giving him an extension.
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