Kerala police on Tuesday arrested former Kannur district panchayat president P.P. Divya in connection with the death of Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu. Divya, a CPI(M) district committee member, was taken into custody hours after a local court rejected her advance bail application.
Babu was found dead at his quarters in Kannur on October 15, a day after Divya levelled corruption allegations against him after attending his send-off function allegedly uninvited. Divya is charged with abetment to suicide under Section 108 of the BNSS.
The ADM’s death has stirred up a political storm in the state after opposition parties and media punched holes in Divya’s allegations, leaving the ruling CPI(M) on the defensive ahead of the upcoming byelections.
Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency goes to the polls on November 13 while assembly byelections in Palakkad and Chelakkara—where the LDF and the UDF are in a close contest—will also be held on the same day.
Talking to the media, Kannur City Police Commissioner Ajit Kumar confirmed Divya’s arrest, but refused to disclose where she was taken into custody from. The opposition had been alleging that the CPI(M) and the police were giving protection to the accused even as the government had promised justice to Babu’s family.
A section of local media reported that Divya surrendered before the investigating officer at Kannapuram near her residence in Kannur and the police later registered her arrest.
Earlier in the day, Thalassery Principal District and Sessions Judge K.T. Nissar Ahammed dismissed Divya’s anticipatory bail plea, observing that “the circumstances themselves disentitle her to the relief of pre-arrest bail.”
The court observed that the act of the petitioner is a pre-planned and premeditated one with the sole intention of insulting and humiliating a highly reputed, high-ranking government official.
“As submitted by the learned public prosecutor, if such a person is granted the relief of pre-arrest bail, definitely it may give a wrong message to the society,” it said.
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