Thiruvananthapuram, May 19 (IANS): In wake of the sudden suspension of senior police officer P. Vijayan, Kerala's Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Friday claimed that there is a "clear-cut factionalism" in the state police.

"Things are not well in the police and the truth of the matter is its divided house. The suspension of IGP P. Vijayan is the latest to prove that something is amiss in the Police headquarters," he said.

It was late on Thursday that the suspension of Vijayan, considered a very clean official, was announced and Satheesan attributed this due to the "divisions" between the top police officials.

The charge against Vijayan, according to the suspension order, was though he was not in charge of the investigation in the train blaze case where Delhi resident Shahrukh Saifi was arrested in the incident that took place near Kozhikode on April 2, he got in touch with officials who were bringing the accused from Maharashtra's Ratnagiri to Kozhikode.

The order further stated that based on the preliminary report submitted, ADGP K. Padmakumar has been asked to conduct a detailed probe into this after it has been found out the news of the accused being brought was leaked out.

It was on April 26 that Vijayan, who, apart from heading the ATS, was also the chief of the Kerala Books and Publications Society was removed from both the posts and was asked to report to the police headquarters.

He was moved out as ATS head, a week after the NIA took over the investigation of the train blaze case.

Meanwhile reports have also surfaced that Vijayan was one of the 100 people handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office to take part in the 100th edition of Mann Ki Baat, but failed to get the clearance from the state government and eyebrows have been raised on this.