Ravada was a bittersweet option for state govt

THE appointment of Ravada A Chandrasekhar as the new state police chief was on expected lines, to put it bluntly.

- SHAN A S @T'Puram

Unlike the previous two instances — in 2021, when Anil Kant, and in 2023, when Shaik Darvesh Saheb were selected — the government this time round was short of options and the writing on the wall was clear.

In 2021, the selection boiled down to Anil Kant or B Sandhya, while in 2023 it was Shaik Darvesh vs K Padmakumar. There were frenetic lobbying and umpteen last-minute patch-up meets to shore up the claims of the candidates. The government was hard-pressed due to its options.

This time, though, the situation was reversed. The government was in a quandary as the three names expected in the UPSC shortlist — Nitin Agarwal, Ravada and Yogesh Gupta — appealed to it the least.

Nitin, the government assessed, was not popular with fellow officers. It had questions about Yogesh after he allegedly transferred files on K M Abraham, chief principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, to a central agency without consulting the state government.

With Ravada, the CPM-led government had an axe to grind. He was indicted in the 1994 Koothuparamba firing incident, a rallying point of left youth activism, in which five DYFI members were killed.

At the time Ravada was an ASP, fresh out of training from the SVP National Police Academy, Hyderabad. The officer was suspended in connection with the incident, but was later redrafted.