The Kerala High Court has orally questioned the basis on which two bodybuilders were appointed as sub-inspectors in the State’s armed police force, despite failing the physical test.

The court was acting on a petition seeking Vigilance inquiry into the appointment of bodybuilding champion Chitharesh Natesan and Shinu Chowwa, who had won the silver medal in the South Asia World Bodybuilding Championship, in the armed police force by creating two supernumerary posts.

Justice A. Badharudeen was considering a statement by Director General of Prosecution T. Asaf Ali on behalf of the Home Secretary, asserting that the bodybuilders — Chitharesh Natesan and Shinu Chowwa — had been called for a physical examination, during which the former did not show up and the latter had failed. Later, they underwent the mandatory medical examination and police verification, during which Mr. Natesan was found medically unfit.

It was also reported that even though appointment orders had been issued to the sportspersons, neither candidate had been admitted to training and no proposals from the police department recommending their appointment had been forwarded to the government.

Additionally, the court was informed that none of the officers assailed in the petition could have committed an offence warranting an approval for a Vigilance probe since the decision to appoint the two sportspersons in question was not made by an individual official, but as part of a policy decision. 

The petition challenging the appointments was filed by lawyer K.M. Shajahan, contending that the bodybuilders had been appointed after failing the physical test, that DGP S.Sreejith had taken an undue interest in the matter, and that then Home Secretary Biswanath Sinha and then political secretary to the Chief Minister, P. Sasi, had intervened in the matter of their appointment, and sought a Vigilance inquiry.