Kochi, Nov 26 K. Manjusha, wife of Kannur Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu who was found hanging at his official residence, on Tuesday filed a petition seeking a CBI probe into her husband’s death.
Babu was considered as one of the cleanest officials in the Revenue Department, which was even pointed out by State Revenue Minister K. Rajan.
Babu was found dead in his official quarters on October 15, 2024, a day after he was given an official send-off from Kannur.
In her petition, she has raised her concern about the undue haste made by the Kannur district authorities when the inquest and autopsy were conducted before the family members arrived.
The sequence of events that led to Babu’s suicide began when, P.P. Divya, the Kannur district panchayath president and CPI-M leader arrived at the send-off function despite not being invited 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 the "uninvited" Divya walked out after making curt remarks against Babu.
Babu died by suicide the very next day (October 15) and following the furore, Divya resigned as Kannur district panchayath 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.
In the alleged corruption remark, it later surfaced that one T.V. Prasanth, an electrician by profession who worked at the state-run Medical College at Kannur had applied for a petrol pump and Babu had delayed giving the NOC for it.
Prasanth and Divya’s husbands are colleagues at the hospital.
After the suicide news came, Prasanth alleged that he gave a bribe of over Rs 98,000 to Babu and a complaint regarding this was made to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
But in the complaint, his name was given as T.V. Prasanthan and this raised suspicion from several quarters.
What raised more eyebrows was normally the TV channels do not cover a send-off function but allegations surfaced that Divya, who herself was not invited, was instrumental in bringing a local Television channel to cover this event with the intent to humiliate Babu publicly.
Manjusha’s plea also points out that even though a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, it has failed to make any headway in the investigation and failed to collect crucial evidences like CCTV footage and was only attempting to conceal evidence and aiding the accused in fabricating evidence.
The plea said that the CBI must investigate the matter and find out the reasons behind her husband's death and stated that the possibility of homicidal hanging cannot be ruled out.
She also wanted to find out the people whom Babu met after his farewell speech and an investigation should also be conducted to ascertain the facts and circumstances leading to his death.
“Currently there are circumstances raising serious questions about the cause of the deceased's death. Whether it was by suicide by hanging remains doubtful. The rushed manner in which inquest was conducted only deepens these concerns,” reads her petition.
Incidentally, her petition was filed hours after she had approached a local court in Kannur stating that the court should ensure that evidence and details about her husband’s suicide including the telephone call register that has not been collected, should be taken into custody for a proper probe.
The local court heard the petition and posted the matter for December 3.
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