A day after the Kerala Police suo moto registered a case over the malfunctioning of a microphone, which interrupted the speech of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for a few seconds during a programme organised to commemorate the life of late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy on Monday, the CM told the police not to proceed with the case.

The condolence meeting was organised by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) at Mahatma Ayyankali Hall in Thiruvananthapuram.

Pinarayi Vijayan directed the police not to proceed with the case which case became a huge controversy and was ridiculed by Opposition leaders and the general public. He said that the investigating officials need to carry out only essential security inspections.

Although the police were directed not to proceed with the case, the incident became a huge embarrassment for the state government.

In a bizarre move, the police filed an FIR against the mic failure. The Cantonment police took suo moto notice of the incident under section 118 (e) Kerala Police Act (Any person who knowingly does any act which causes danger to public or failure in public safety). The FIR, however, did not mention anyone as accused.

The police seized the ‘accused’ malfunctioning mic, a set of cables and the amplifier. However, no case was registered against Renjith, the microphone operator.

The FIR read that the accused acted in such a way as to affect public safety by howling into the microphone while the chief minister was speaking.

On knowing that a case was registered on the matter, the mike operator Renjith said, “I felt like laughing when I heard about the case for the first time. I have been in this profession for years and it is my first such experience,” he said.

He said he had supplied sound equipment for various VVIP programmes including those of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

With reports coming out about the case, social media was flooded with comments ridiculing the police action. The case drew widespread criticism on social media and became a hot topic for trollers. “Please arrest the microphone,” one of the trolls on social media platforms, said.

Pinarayi Vijayan came under flak from a slew of leaders including Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan and KPCC president K Sudhakaran “Of course, it’s the gravest violation of public order if a 10-sec technical glitch happens in the mike when @pinarayi vijayan is speaking,” VD Satheesan tweeted

Speaking to media persons here, Satheesan said, “Please don’t make me die of laughter. The first accused is the mic, the second accused is the amplifier. The FIR was registered as per the direction from the CMO. The police are being ruled by the CM’s political secretary.”

The KPCC president took a jibe at CM saying the latter is scared of even a microphone, which shows how timid the leader is.

Following the Chief minister’s intervention, the Police returned the microphone, amplifier and the cable — which turned out to be the villain — to the microphone operator and the police have closed the investigation into the case.