4-year jail for former DGP Tomin Thachankary in disproportionate assets case
A KERALA Vigilance Court on Thursday, September 17, sentenced former Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) Tomin J Thachankary to four years of rigorous imprisonment in a long-running disproportionate assets case. The Special Court in Kottayam also imposed a fine of Rs 30.84 lakh on him.
The case was registered in 2007, after Thachankary was promoted as a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police. The VACB filed the chargesheet in 2013, by which time he had been promoted to Additional Director General of Police (ADGP).
The allegations are that Thachankary accumulated assets worth Rs 64.7 lakh between January 2003 and July 2007. According to a LiveLaw report, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) found that the assets he acquired during this period were between 135% and 138% disproportionate to his known sources of official income.
Thachankary had maintained that the assets under scrutiny were acquired through family partition, inheritance and gifts. He sought discharge from the case on those grounds, but the Vigilance Court rejected his plea in May 2020, holding that there was prima facie material to proceed with the trial. In January 2021, the Kerala government sanctioned a further investigation by a separate special unit of the VACB following a representation from Thachankary.
Anti-corruption activist Bobby Kuruvila subsequently approached the Kerala High Court, alleging that the government's decision was intended to delay the trial. In August 2025, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court set aside the government's order and directed that the trial be completed within a time-bound period.
Thachankary, a 1987-batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, retired in 2023 as DGP (Investigation) of the Kerala State Human Rights Commission.
During his career, he served in several prominent positions, including Managing Director of Kerala Marketfed and Consumerfed, Chairman and Managing Director of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), CMD of the Kerala Books and Publications Society, and Chief of the Kerala Fire and Rescue Services.
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FORMER Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) Tomin J. Thachankary has been sentenced to four years in jail. Earlier, the court found him guilty in a long-pending disproportionate assets case by the Kottayam Vigilance Court.
Vigilance Court Judge K. V. Rajaneesh found Thachankary guilty of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during the period from January 1, 2003, to July 7, 2007.
According to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), Thachankary had accumulated assets and incurred expenditure of approximately ₹64.70 lakh that could not be satisfactorily accounted for against his known sources of income.
The investigation reportedly assessed the assets as 135.80 per cent disproportionate to his known income during the period under investigation.
The case originated from a complaint alleging that Thachankary had acquired houses, flats, land and other assets beyond what could be justified by his legitimate income.
The Vigilance investigation was initiated in 2007, and a chargesheet was filed in 2013. The case was subsequently transferred between Vigilance courts before finally being tried in Kottayam.
Thachankary had maintained that some of the assets under scrutiny were inherited family properties and had challenged the proceedings, seeking further investigation. His legal challenges before the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court did not stop the trial.
The trial involved extensive evidence. According to PTI, 95 prosecution witnesses and 269 prosecution documents were examined, while the defence examined 23 witnesses and produced 55 documents.
The Vigilance prosecution has sought a stringent punishment. Before sentencing, Thachankary asked the court to consider his health condition, stating that he had experienced chest pain two days earlier.
The verdict marks the conclusion of a legal battle that has continued for nearly two decades, beginning with the Vigilance proceedings initiated during Thachankary's tenure as a senior police officer.
