KOTTAYAM: In the first conviction and sentencing of an officer of Director General of Police rank in Kerala in a corruption case, the Court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance), Kottayam, on Thursday sentenced retired DGP Tomin J. Thachankary to four years’ rigorous imprisonment. Judge K.V. Rejanish also imposed a fine of ₹30.84 lakh. Thachankary was ordered to be shifted to the Central Jail in Thiruvananthapuram and has 30 days to appeal to the Kerala High Court.
Earlier the same day, the court found the 1987-batch Kerala-cadre IPS officer guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The check period was January 1, 2003 to July 7, 2007. The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) Special Cell, Ernakulam, quantified the unaccounted assets and expenditure at ₹64.70 lakh — 135.80 per cent in excess of his known income.
Before sentence was pronounced, Thachankary told the court he had suffered chest pain two days earlier and was unwell. The prosecution, led by Vigilance Public Prosecutor K.K. Sreekanth, opposed any concession, submitting that the high office he had held required a stricter standard, not a lighter one.
The case began with a complaint by Bobby Kuruvila alleging that Thachankary had acquired houses, flats and other properties far beyond his lawful means. The VACB registered the case in 2007, when Thachankary was promoted as Deputy Inspector General. A Deputy Superintendent of Police headed the probe. The chargesheet was filed in 2013, by which time he had become Additional Director General of Police. He retired as DGP on July 31, 2023.
The trial stretched across nearly two decades and three courts — Thrissur, then Muvattupuzha, and finally Kottayam. Ninety-five prosecution witnesses and 269 documents were examined; the defence produced 23 witnesses and 55 documents. Thachankary argued that several properties were inherited or received as gifts. The court rejected that explanation. His application for discharge under Section 239 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was dismissed in 2020.
In 2021 the State sanctioned further investigation. The original complainant challenged that order. In August 2025 a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court set aside the government order and directed the Special Court to finish the trial within a fixed time. Thursday’s verdict followed that direction.
The finding is unprecedented at this rank in Kerala. For years the accused continued to occupy senior posts while the case moved from court to court. The sentence now places a retired police chief in custody for assets the court held he could not account for. Whether the High Court stays or sets aside the conviction will decide the next chapter. Until then, the Vigilance Court’s order stands as a rare instance of criminal accountability reaching the apex of the State police.
