A post has been going viral on social media claiming that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay suspended three IPS (Indian Police Service) officers who were seen laughing amid a press conference held on 23 May regarding the rape and murder of a minor in Coimbatore.
What did the post say?: The post was shared by X (formerly Twitter) user 'Sanatnimaneesh' with the caption, "Five days ago, a 10-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Coimbatore. During the press conference held for briefing on the incident, three IPS officers were seen laughing by everyone. Everyone felt bad. But Vijay, instead of being a mere spectator in this matter, fulfilled his duty by suspending all three IPS officers."
(You can view other archives of similar claims here, here, and here.)
What are the facts?: The claim is false. There is no evidence of CM Vijay having suspended the IPS officers in question, namely Tamil Nadu West Zone Inspector General Ramya Bharathi, Coimbatore Superintendent of Police Pawan Kumar, and Deputy Inspector General Swaminathan
How did we find out the truth?: We reached out to Coimbatore Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) M Vivekanandan, who confirmed that there was no truth to these claims.
"This news is completely false," he told WebQoof when asked about the officers' alleged suspension.
A simple Google search with keywords such as 'Tamil Nadu CM Vijay suspends IPS officers press conference Coimbatore rape murder' and 'Ramya Bharathi Pawan Kumar Swaminathan suspended' also did not lead to any credible news reports on the alleged suspension.
Further, we searched for suspension notices on the Government of Tamil Nadu official website, which routinely publishes such notices. However, no such notification was found.
Next, we checked the official X handle and Citizen Portal of the Tamil Nadu Police, but did not find any official notice pertaining to the officers' suspension.
Further, we checked the X handle and official website of the Coimbatore District Police but did not find any such suspension noitce there.
We also reached out to Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal but did not get a response. This article will be updated as and when he responds.
Conclusion: The claim is false as there is no evidence of the three IPS officers having been suspended.
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