The police have registered FIR against Kannan Gopinathan for not joining duty as directed by the government amid coronavirus pandemic however the officer resigned from the IAS in August, 2019. The FIR has been registered under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act against him on April 21, 2020 at Moti Daman police station in the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Union Territory’s administration on 09 April had sent a communication to Gopinathan, asking him to join duty on the ground that his resignation had not been accepted yet.

The officer is also facing a charge under section 188 of the IPC for refusing to obey a government order. Gopinathan, who hails from Kerala, had quit the service over ‘denial of freedom to the people of Jammu and Kashmir’.

Gopinathan termed the letter as an act of harassment and refused to join duty, saying that he was ready to offer his services amid the COVID-19 crisis as a common citizen. He had submitted resignation to the Union Home Ministry on August 21 following the imposition of restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir after the scrapping of its special status.