Vigilance chief Jacob Thomas wants to move out

Thiruvananthapuram: Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) chief Jacob Thomas on Tuesday asked the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government to relieve him from the post for personal reasons.

This has happened 24 hours after he said he is not going to be cowed down by veiled allegations against him.

The state cabinet that meets here on Wednesday would now take the final call on his letter, according to highly placed government sources.

Thomas, who holds the rank of director general of police (DGP), has never been on the right side of rival UDF governments.

Thomas, who turned person non-grata to the previous Oommen Chandy government and was shunted from one post to the other, was appointed as director by the Vijayan cabinet in their first meeting on May 25.

Incidentally, this appointment sent shock waves to quite a few ministers in the Chandy government facing allegations of corruption and Thomas said that his department will not be like a caged parrot.

Thomas' move has come as a bolt out of blue for Vijayan who heads the Vigilance Department.

A few reasons have now surfaced for why Thomas chose to be relieved of his post after the 'number two' in the Vijayan cabinet -- Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan -- quit last week when it became clear that he had appointed two of his close relatives in top posts in two state PSUs.

Another blow came against Thomas when on Sunday the media splashed a report of a financial inspection wing unearthing serious discrepancies in the manner in which he handled things when he was the port director.

The report was prepared in March this year when the Chandy government was in office, but was kept under wraps and it made its way into the media on Sunday.