CPI(M) fears CBI probe as truth will be out: Kerala LoP on ADM suicide case

Thiruvananthapuram (The Uttam Hindu): With Kerala CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan on Thursday reiterating that there was no need for a CBI probe into the ‘death’ of Kannur Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu, who was found hanging at his official residence, Leader of Opposition (LoP) V.D. Satheesan said Govindan feared the truth.

“Everything that happened after his body was found out is mysterious. Despite the family of Babu asking that the post-mortem should not be conducted at the Kannur Medical College hospital, it was done there and more importantly the Kannur authorities went ahead with the inquest preparation without the presence of anyone from Babu’s family,” said Satheesan.

“After the news of Babu’s death surfaced there has been a concerted attempt to portray him as a corrupt officer over the sanctioning of a petrol pump. If a proper probe takes place Govindan fears that the names of the benami applicant of the pump will come out. The on-paper applicant is T.V. Prasanth, an electrician by profession, who works at the state-run Medical College at Kannur. Govindan fears the truth that may come out of the probe,” added Satheesan.

Incidentally on Wednesday as soon as the Kerala High Court accepted the petition of K. Manjusha, wife of Babu for a CBI probe into the death of her husband, Govindan said the CBI is a caged parrot and all the national agency's principal job is to target the opposition.

On Thursday, he repeated the same and said the CPI(M) has all along opposed probes by the CBI as their objective is not clean.

In the court, the counsel for Manjusha insisted that the only way for the truth to come out was a CBI probe.

Incidentally, Babu was considered one of the cleanest officials in the Revenue Department, which was even pointed out by Kerala Revenue Minister K. Rajan.

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, his wife raised concerns about the undue haste with which the inquest and autopsy were conducted even before the family members had arrived.

The sequence of events that led to Babu’s suicide began when, P.P. Divya, the Kannur district panchayat president and CPI(M) leader arrived at the send-off function uninvited and made some critical remarks against Babu, alleging his involvement in corruption.

When this incident occurred, Kannur District Collector Arun Vijayan, who was presiding over the function, kept mum and did not make any statement when Divya walked out after making curt remarks against Babu.

Babu died by suicide the very next day on October 15. Following the furore, Divya resigned as Kannur district panchayat president.

The husband of Divya and Prasanth are colleagues at the Kannur Medical College.

Divya 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.

“Even surprising was the presence of Govindan’s wife to receive Divya when she was released from the prison after she got bail. Govindan after Babu’s funeral had visited Manjusha and comforted her saying that the state government would be with her and now see the position taken by Govindan,” added Satheesan.

The High Court posted the case on Manjusha’s petition to December 6, when the court will give its decision on her plea.