Ex-police officer who probed ADM Naveen Babu’s death case gets CPM ticket for Local Body polls

The former police officer who investigated the case against former Kannur District Panchayat president P.P. Divya in connection with the death of Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Naveen Babu has been fielded by the CPM as a candidate in the upcoming local body elections.

Retired Kannur Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) TK Ratnakumar, who was part of the special team that probed the case related to the ADM’s death, will contest from the Kottoor ward in the Sreekandapuram Municipality, Kannur district, on the CPM symbol. Reports suggest that he is the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate for the post of chairman.

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Ratnakumar, a native of Kottoor, retired from service in March this year.

Naveen Babu’s family had alleged that the state police investigation was biased and conducted in favour of PP Divya. They had approached both the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe, citing lack of faith in the state police investigation.

In April this year, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by Manjusha, wife of late ADM Naveen Babu, seeking a CBI inquiry into her husband’s death.

A Bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K Vinod Chandran refused to interfere with the Kerala High Court’s decision that had rejected the plea for a CBI probe. Manjusha had approached the Supreme Court after a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed her appeal against a single judge’s order rejecting her request for a CBI investigation.

Earlier, on January 6, a single judge of the Kerala High Court had dismissed her petition, observing that the accused merely having political links with the ruling dispensation was not sufficient ground to transfer the probe to the CBI.

ADM Naveen Babu was found dead in his official quarters at Pallikkunnu in Kannur on the morning of October 15 last year. He allegedly died by suicide after facing public humiliation and corruption allegations made by P.P. Divya, then president of the Kannur District Panchayat, during a farewell meeting on October 14.