Kochi: Kerala Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said on Thursday that if a proper probe takes place into the suicide of Kannur Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu, it will lead to the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the state CPI-M party headquarters.
“Babu was a high-ranking official and was working in Vijayan’s home. Even though the CPI-M Secretary M.V. Govindan has assured that they will stand with the family, in reality, they are shielding the guilty,” the LoP said.
He added that the sad fact is that even after Babu’s death, he is being mercilessly portrayed as a corrupt official, which is baseless as he has been cleared as one of the most upright officials.
“It now has become clear that the complaint given to Vijayan’s office by Prasanth is a fake as the name and signature are not his. If a proper probe takes place, it will lead to the office of Vijayan and the CPI-M headquarters,” said Satheesan.
He added that everyone is interested in knowing if the complaint of Prasanth has actually been received in the office of Vijayan.
“If so, we would like to know the details of it. It’s now clear that this complaint surfaced just to tarnish an upright official and that too after he passed away. This cannot happen without the knowledge of Vijayan’s office and the party,” said Satheesan.
He said that those behind the fake complaint were out to save those who were close to people working in Vijayan’s office.
“Divya has not been questioned besides in the pre-arrest bail plea, it was again pointed out that the deceased was a corrupt official and Divya is one who is fighting corruption and yet both Vijayan and Govindan say they are with the family of Babu,” said Satheesan.
On Thursday, a lower court in Kannur completed the trial in the pre-arrest plea of Divya and posted it for orders on Tuesday.
On October 13, Naveen Babu was found hanging in his home while his wife was waiting for him at the Chengannur railway station. He was recently transferred to his home district Pathanamthitta.
Locals said that Babu was deeply hurt when at his send-off function held on Monday, Divya, the Kannur district panchayath president made serious corruption charges against him. Divya had not been invited to the function and had barged in.
Divya said that a person had approached her to speak to Babu with regards to the sanctioning of a petrol pump station despite several requests, which he (Babu) had not been giving.
“Just two days before his retirement, Babu gave the sanction. I know how the sanction was given and I reveal all the details in two days,” she said.
Following the tragic incident, the person who applied for the petrol pump station was identified as T.P. Prasanth, who works as an electrician in the state-run Medical College at Kannur and was a colleague and friend of Divya’s husband.
–IANS