P P Divya, CPI(M) leader in dock for suicide of ADM, surrenders before Kerala police

The ADM’s suicide had triggered outrage in Kerala, forcing the CPI(M) to remove Divya from the post of the district panchayat president. Two days after the incident, police had registered a case against Divya, an emerging woman leader in the CPI(M), on charges of abetment. She had said she would prove her innocence in the case.

Since the incident, she was away from the public eye, which led to allegations that the party was shielding Divya, a member of the CPI(M) Kannur district committee. The opposition Congress and BJP had been protesting in Kannur, mounting pressure on the government to arrest her.

The issue snowballed into an embarrassing situation for ruling CPI(M) at a time by-elections to two assembly seats and the Lok Sabha seat of Wayanad are being held next month. Initially, the CPI(M)’s Kannur district leadership tried to defend Divya, saying that what she said at the send-off meeting was “well-intentioned”.

However, after the anticipatory bail plea was rejected, the issue once again came to the frontburner of political debates, forcing the party to direct her to surrender before the police.

Besides, CPI(M) district leadership in Babu’s home district of Pathanamthitta stood with the deceased bureaucrat’s family and sought to distance themselves from the approach of the party in Kannur.

Babu was scheduled to assume office as the Additional District Magistrate in Pathanamthitta district on October 15, and was seven months from retirement. On October 14, Divya had turned up for his farewell meeting in Kannur uninvited and criticised him with regard to granting a no-objection certificate for a fuel outlet application. She then walked out of the event midway.