Kerala cop falsely claimed to be CPM worker inciting violence at Sabarimala

“Meet this active CPM cadre Vallabh Das from Trivandrum. He’s not even recruited in Kerala Police, still this goon was in Police uniform trying to attack innocent #Ayyappa devotees at #Shabarimalai protest during the past five days..😡 @rsprasad” A photograph of a person in a police uniform is being circulated on social media, with the claim that the person is a CPI(M) party member masquerading as a cop, who had assaulted devotees of lord Ayappa who had gathered during the Sabarimala protests that had rocked the state ever since the Supreme Court verdict allowing women entry into the temple.

The above tweet on October 24 by a social media user Sanjib Ghosh has been retweeted close to 2000 times. According to these tweets, the person in the picture is Vallabh Das, a CPM worker. Some users raised suspicion over the person’s hairstyle, claiming that police personnel cannot have this type of hairdo.

The above tweet by J.Nandakumar, an RSS leader was retweeted almost 2700 times. Numerous Twitter users have tweeted this photograph along with identical text.

Person in picture is indeed a cop

The person seen in the photograph claimed to be a CPM worker dressed as a policeman, is indeed a policeman and not a political worker. This has been confirmed by the Kerala police via a Facebook post clarifying that the person in question is a policeman with the KAP fifth battalion stationed at Sabarimala. Kerala police has appealed to social media users to beware of fake propaganda.

Posted below are some photographs of the police personnel, who has been identified as Aashiq.

Sabarimala has become a flashpoint ever since the Supreme Court verdict directing the temple authorities to allow women entry into the temple. The issue has taken a political turn, particularly on social media, with the Kerala government and the police being targeted through the use of old and/or unrelated images and false claims.