A Kerala court has recently granted the police custody of CPI(M) leader P P Divya for 6 hours to facilitate questioning regarding the suicide of Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu.
The Judicial First Class Magistrate allowed the police to interrogate Divya, who is accused of abetting Babu’s suicide, until 5 PM on Friday. The police initially sought her custody for two days. Following this order, Divya was questioned at the Kannur Town police station by the investigation team.
In a related development, the Thalassery Principal District Sessions Court has postponed Divya’s bail application until Tuesday. On the same day, the Congress party organized a protest march to the collectorate, demanding action against District Collector Arun K. Vijayan.
The protest was led by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran, who accused the Collector of lacking the courage to intervene and stop Divya from making allegations against Babu.
Sudhakaran further claimed that the Collector was attempting to protect Divya by stating that Babu had later admitted to a mistake. “The Collector should be ready to rectify his stand,” he asserted, also suggesting that Divya was involved in corrupt practices.
After Sudhakaran’s address, police used water cannons multiple times to disperse the protestors but faced resistance, leading to clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.
This protest followed allegations that the Collector had been pressured to declare that his former colleague, the late ADM Naveen Babu, had acknowledged making an error after facing graft allegations. According to the Collector’s statement to the police, after the farewell function where Divya accused Babu of corruption, the ADM reportedly met Vijayan and confessed to making a mistake.
In response, Babu’s family expressed disbelief at the Collector’s claims. Babu’s wife stated that her husband would not have made such an admission, emphasizing that he and the Collector were not particularly close. She also criticized the Collector’s demeanor during the send-off event, suggesting that had he offered Babu support after the allegations, the tragedy might have been averted.
Divya’s controversial attendance at Babu’s send-off on October 14, where she accused him of delaying approval for a petrol pump in Chengalai, sparked further tensions. She noted that Babu had only approved the project shortly before his transfer, implying she was aware of the reasons for this sudden decision. The following day, Babu was found dead in his quarters in Kannur.
In light of the police registering a case against her for abetting the ADM’s suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Divya sought anticipatory bail from the Thalassery Sessions Court on October 19.
However, her request was denied on October 29, leading to her arrest and remand to judicial custody for 14 days.
