The Kerala government on Wednesday, December 20, suspended Director General of Police Jacob Thomas pending a disciplinary action on the charge that he had conducted himself in a manner that was "prejudicial to the security of the State." In a meeting with journalists on December 9, Thomas, who is known for his no-holds-barred campaign against corruption, had reportedly said that the government's response would have been different if wealthy persons were missing at sea during the recent cyclone. He also made an oblique reference to a sensational political murder in Kannur and said whistleblowers lived in a state of fear in Kerala. A Marxist government supervised inquiry found that Thomas had imperiled law and order and peace along the coast by criticising the efforts of the State to rescue fishermen missing at sea in the aftermath of Cyclone Ockhi. The comments were "inflammatory in nature and prima facie aimed at exacerbating such feelings, which could have had serious repercussions on law and order and peace along the coast." The inquiry report observed that Thomas "commented that there is a total breakdown of law and order in the State. He alleged that the State government is not functioning for the poor, but for the rich and corrupt elements, and the people in power are compromising with corruption." The government concluded that in the "wake of the cyclone calamity," Thomas's statements had the potential to "create dissatisfaction and displeasure among people about the administrative mechanism of the State. They were "unwarranted and unbecoming of an officer of his stature." The government took strong exception to his statement "that rulers are unpopular and cannot win the confidence of ordinary people."