Thiruvananthapuram: The new list of police officers for Sabarimala duty is ready.  Inspector General (IG)  Dinendra Kashyap will be in charge of the security from Sannidhanam to Marakoottam. He will replace IG Vijay Sakhare. At Pamba and Nilakkal, IG Ashok Yadav will be in charge. Earlier, IG Manoj was deputed here. The new security arrangements will come into effect on November 30.

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Certain IGs and superintendent of police in Sabarimala have been transferred. At Sannidhanam, instead of SP Pratheesh Kumar, Karuppa Sami will be in charge and Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar will replace Harishankar at Pamba. At Nilakkal, Manjunath will be in charge in place of Yatheesh Chandra.

Earlier, Kerala high court had questioned the state government as to why top police officers, accused in criminal cases, had been deployed in Sabarimala. Referring to inspector general (IG) Vijay Sakhare and superintendent of police (SP) Yatheesh Chandra, the court observed, “What was the point of deploying police officers who did not know how to read and write Malayalam?”

BJP had earlier filed a complaint with the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions that alleged SP Yatheesh Chandra had 'misbehaved' with their central leader Pon Radhakrishnan. BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai had filed the complaint.

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Chandra and Pon Radhakrishnan got into a verbal duel last Wednesday. Yatheesh had informed the minister that there were no facilities to park his car at Nilakkal when the minister asked him why the vehicles were not allowed to enter Pamba. 

Chandra had asked whether the union minister would take the responsibility if any mishap occurred in Pamba. BJP general secretary AN Radhakrishnan ran into an argument with Yatheesh Chandra, too.