In eye of storm over Kerala ADM’s suicide, PP Divya removed from her post by CPI(M)
Police book her for abetment, she says, ‘Will cooperate with the probe and will legally prove my innocence’
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CPI(M) leader and Kannur district panchayat president P P Divya made comments critical of additional district magistrate Naveen Babu at a public function. (Facebook)In the eye of a storm for publicly criticising an Additional District Magistrate in Kannur, who died by suicide the next day, CPI(M) leader P P Divya was on Thursday removed as the district panchayat president.
The decision was taken by the party’s Kannur district secretariat hours after police registered a case against her on charges of abetting the suicide of ADM Naveen Babu, who was found hanging at his official residence on Tuesday.
The district secretariat said the party wanted Divya to quit – a decision she accepted. K K Rathnakumari will be the new district panchayat president.
Divya, a member of the CPI(M) Kannur district committee, said in a statement: “I am extremely pained at the death of Naveen Babu. I will cooperate with the police probe and will legally prove my innocence. I had made a well-intentioned statement against corruption, and I attest the party stand that certain portions in my comments should have been avoided. I am quitting as the president of the district panchayat.”
Babu was scheduled to assume office as the Additional District Magistrate in Pathanamthitta district on Wednesday, and was seven months away from retirement. Divya turned up for his farewell meeting in Kannur uninvited and allegedly raised corruption charges with regard to granting a no-objection certificate for a fuel outlet application. She then walked out of the event.
The ADM’s death the next day led to widespread outrage. The CPI(M) leadership of Pathanamthitta district, where Babu’s family is from, openly came out against Divya and rejected her allegations against the officer.
Initially, the CPI(M)’s Kannur district leadership had tried to shield Divya, saying that what she had stated at the send-off meeting was “well-intentioned”. However, as the public sentiment grew against her, the district leadership decided to act. Party state secretary M V Govindan on Thursday said, “The state government as well as the party’s Kannur district committee are looking into the issue. There should not be any kind of concealment in this.”
Divya’s allegation that Babu was corrupt did not find takers within the CPI(M)-led state government. Revenue Minister K Rajan and Health Minister Veena George, as well as IAS officers Divya S Iyer and P B Nooh, vouched for the civil servant’s impeccable career record.
The Congress and the BJP have alleged that the person who made the application in question for the fuel outlet, one Prasanthan, is a proxy for P P Divya’s husband Ajith.
Ajith is an office assistant at Kannur’s Government Medical College, Pariyaram, where Prasanthan works as an electrician. The Medical Education Department is also probing whether Prasanthan violated his service norms.
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