CBI ready to take over probe into suicide of Kannur ADM; Kerala HC reserves order

Kochi, Dec 12 (IANS) While the CBI has agreed to take over the probe into the suicide case of Kannur Additional District Magistrate, Naveen Babu, the state has strongly opposed it and the Kerala High Court after hearing the arguments of both sides in detail, reserved its order on Thursday.

On November 27, the court accepted the petition of Manjusha for a CBI probe into the death of her husband Naveen Babu, who was found hanging at his official residence.

The tragic event unfolded after P.P. Divya, the Kannur district panchayat president and CPI-M leader arrived at Naveen Babu’s farewell function in October uninvited and made some critical remarks against him.

Divya accused Naveen Babu of corruption, though he had earned a reputation of being an upright officer.

On Thursday the counsel for Manjusha submitted that Divya has strong political ties and alleged that the state investigating agency is unlikely to conduct a fair probe and hence an impartial agency like the CBI must conduct the investigation.

Her counsel further pointed out that forceful ligature marks were present on the neck of the deceased, which has to be investigated scientifically by an agency like the CBI.

The counsel also pointed out that the inquest and the post mortem were not conducted in the way the family desired it to be done.

However, the counsel for the state government pointed out that the present police team is doing a clean investigation and the CBI probe is being demanded on mere inferences and surmises without any cogent evidence.

Babu was found dead in his official quarters on October 15, a day after he was given an official send-off from Kannur.

In her petition, Babu's wife raised concerns about the haste with which the inquest and autopsy were conducted before the family members arrived.

Following the furore over Babu's death, Divya resigned as Kannur district panchayat president.

She was on the run for several days after a case was filed against her on October 17.

On October 29, after a local court rejected her anticipatory bail, Divya was arrested by the police and lodged at a jail in Kannur till November 8 when she got bail.

Regarding the alleged corruption remark, it later surfaced that one T.V. Prasanth, an electrician who worked at the state-run Medical College at Kannur had applied for a petrol pump and Babu had delayed giving the No Objection Certificate for it.

Significantly, Prasanth and Divya's husband were colleagues at the hospital.

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