The making of Gyanesh Kumar

The mighty Periyar river was being dug out, one truckload of sand at a time. By the early 2000s, illegal sand mining from Kerala's largest river had become an ecological, economic and political problem in Ernakulam district, which houses the state's commercial capital Kochi.

The river fed the region's construction boom, while the extraction changed the riverbed, weakened its banks and raised concerns about bridges, groundwater and saltwater intrusion. The Kerala High Court had already taken note of the consequences and the failure of authorities to effectively regulate indiscriminate extraction. Sand was a lucrative commodity and those controlling its extraction were becoming influential.

Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, was Ernakulam district collector from June 2001 to July 2004. It was during this period that he had a confrontation with T.H. Mustafa, then Kunnathunad MLA and a former state civil supplies minister.

A senior Congress leader, Mustafa had a reputation for taking on powerful people and corrupt officials. At an official meeting called to discuss drought, with senior bureaucrats, police officers and elected representatives present, Mustafa questioned Kumar over inadequate action against the sand-mining mafia and the alleged protective shield provided by the district collector.

The exchange grew heated. "Election has been declared. I am the district election officer. If you can't talk decently, I will leave this meeting," Kumar told Mustafa. The Congress veteran was not one to back down. "Who do you think you are?" Mustafa shot back. "I am a former minister and running MLA. We know your deals with the sand mafia."

The confrontation was about to escalate when irrigation minister T.M. Jacob intervened. He took Kumar, along with then DIG Mohammad Yasin, into an adjoining room and a scuffle was avoided.

.Cong questions Gyanesh Kumar's credibility after Kerala ex-chief secy's BJP ticket claim. Jamal Manakkadan, who was Kalamassery municipal chairperson at the time, witnessed the incident. He recalls: "At that time, we all got complaints about the DC favouring the sand mafia. Mustafa wanted to take him on and Kumar got spooked. At the meeting, even I had personally asked him about his shady deals."

Though the allegations failed to evolve into a formal corruption case against Kumar, the confrontation made headlines at a time when illegal sand mining was one of Ernakulam's most politically sensitive issues.

Meanwhile, Kumar's career was galloping along. After a series of positions -- from assistant collector of Ernakulam to municipal commissioner of the Corporation of Cochin, from managing director of Kerala State Cooperative Bank to director of industries and commerce -- Kumar returned to Ernakulam as district collector. These were powerful assignments. But it was his stint as secretary of the public works department (PWD) that led to the most serious controversy of his Kerala career.

In 2006, Kumar was PWD secretary, closely associated with the Kerala State Transport Project, a World Bank-funded programme intended to upgrade major roads. One of the contractors was PATI-BEL, an Indo-Malaysian joint venture between Malaysian firm PATI and an Indian firm Bhageeratha Constructions.

Malaysian engineer and project manager Lee Been Seen was responsible for the company's Kerala ops. Among the roads being upgraded was the Main Central Road (it links Thiruvananthapuram with Angamali via Kottayam). Dangerous curves were to be straightened, gradients improved, bridges strengthened and the surface modernised. While the project resulted in one of Kerala's more durable stretches of the highway, the story behind it was far from smooth.

The project became embroiled in disputes over payments, delays, land acquisition and contractual obligations. The contractor and the PWD differed over responsibility for problems in implementation.

.INDIA bloc gears up for joint agitation, impeachment notice against CEC . Lee returned to Kuala Lumpur. On 11 November 2006, he was found dead, hanging from an iron bridge in a park. He had told his wife that he was going for a morning jog.

Lee's death transformed a contractual dispute into an administrative scandal. His suicide note detailed harassment, corruption and problems involving officials, including Kumar, who were associated with the project. The Kerala government removed Kumar from the post of PWD secretary and ordered a vigilance inquiry.

Former finance minister and CPI(M) leader T.M. Thomas Isaac recalls being troubled by Kumar's handling of the matter.

"The company bombarded us with complaints on contract violations, and sought liquidated damages. In response, not a single letter was sent from the PWD citing lapses by the contractor." Finding that strange, Isaac summoned Kumar to his office and asked why no memos were sent. "He said he was planning to send one. I was really annoyed!"

If the contractor was guilty of violations, why had the PWD not formally documented them? Why had it reached the point where a project manager was dead? The inquiry remained unresolved.

Sibi Mathews, who was vigilance ADGP at the time, asks: "How did Kumar manage to get clearance from the state government for deputation while facing a vigilance probe?"

Jacob Punnose, then ADGP intelligence, says, "legal restraints" prevented Kerala Police from accessing Lee's suicide note. "Besides, Malaysian police didn't reach out to us."

The full documentary trail -- if there was one -- was never made public. The road was in place, Lee was dead, Kumar's career continued. He moved to the Centre, serving as joint secretary in the ministry of defence, additional secretary in the ministry of home affairs, secretary in the ministry of parliamentary affairs and the ministry of cooperation. His MHA responsibilities included Jammu and Kashmir and matters connected with the establishment of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.

. "The trajectory was striking," points out social activist Joseph C. Mathew. "A Kerala cadre officer who had been in public confrontation with a senior Congress politician over sand mining, whose name had cropped up in bribery allegations surrounding a World Bank-funded road project and whose deputation was questioned while a vigilance inquiry was pending, had moved into the highest levels of central bureaucracy."

The most recent allegation came from former Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson. Thomson alleged that in 2016, while both were senior bureaucrats, Kumar spoke to him during a flight to Delhi about contesting the Lok Sabha election from Pathanamthitta on a BJP ticket. Waxing enthusiastic about Narendra Modi, he tried to convince Thomson to enter electoral politics. "He was very persuasive!" Thomson recalled in an interview to Malayalam news channel Asianet . "I promptly declined."

Thomson's account points towards the early blurring of boundaries between a serving bureaucrat and party activity. That private conversation gains valency because of where we are today.

Kumar was retired from the IAS in January 2024. Two months later, he was appointed election commissioner. On 19 February 2025, he became India's 26th chief election commissioner.

The national controversies came thick and fast. His tenure at the Election Commission of India has been marked by intense political disputes over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, electoral data, CCTV footage, and the internal functioning of the commission.

Opposition parties have accused the poll panel under his leadership of partisan conduct. The commission has rejected such allegations.

The Periyar continues to flow. The Main Central Road continues to carry traffic long after the dispute and Lee Been Seen's death. Meanwhile, the files relating to old controversies continue to gather dust. As new controversies propel the call for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, the questions surrounding the man remain.

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