R Sreelekha, retired IPS officer and the first female Director General of Police (DGP) of Kerala, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, October 9. She took the membership from the BJP state president K Surendran at her residence in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Addressing the media, Sreelekha said that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘glory’ that attracted her to the party. “It took me only three weeks to make a decision. I was an impartial police officer for 33 years. But after retirement I have to observe things from a different perspective. So, with my knowledge and experience I realise that this would be the best way to continue to serve people” she added. 

BJP state vice president C Sivankutty, Thiruvananthapuram district president VV Rajesh were also present on the occasion.

During her 33-year-long tenure, Sreelekha held many key positions, including Superintendent of Police in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur. She also served in the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, and worked as State Transport Commissioner. She has also held the positions of Deputy Inspector General in the Crime Branch, Deputy Inspector General of Police(DIG), Inspector General of Police (IG), Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) and DGP. Sreelekha also headed various public sector organisations in Kerala before retiring from service in 2020, when she turned 60.

Sreelekha’s name has cropped up in several controversies, including allegations of corruption (for which she received a clean chit later), and regarding the claims she’d made in her video series on Youtube called Sasneham Sreelekha (With love, Sreelekha). Her allegation, made in one episode, about women police officials were subjected to becoming victims of sexual harassment, did not go down well within the police force. 

In 2022, she claimed that actor Dileep, who was the alleged mastermind in the 2017 actor assault case, was innocent. Sreelekha was the DGP of prison when Dileep was in judicial custody. In her video, she also accused the police of acting under pressure exerted by the media. Based on this statement, the prosecution had filed a petition seeking time extension to complete the case. The prosecution stated that as she was the DGP of Prisons when Dileep was in judicial custody, her comments needed to be verified.