The Kerala government has decided to hand over the investigation into the tragic death of former Kannur Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Naveen Babu to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
CM VD Satheesan ANI
The Kerala government has decided to hand over the investigation into the tragic death of former Kannur Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Naveen Babu to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). This is the first case the newly-elected United Democratic Front (UDF) government in the state will refer to the central probe agency.
The decision follows a personal meeting between Naveen Babu’s widow, Manjusha, and Chief Minister V D. Satheesan the other day. The family expressed deep dissatisfaction with the local police probe, citing severe lapses in tracking the conspiracy angles and financial backgrounds and has raised an urgent demand for a CBI investigation in the case
Former Kannur District Panchayat President and CPM leader P. P. Divya is the sole accused named in the abetment of suicide case. Naveen Babu’s family and their legal team pointed out 13 key shortcomings in the state police investigation, including unverified CCTV footage and incomplete call data records from Divya’s official phone
A formal notification from the state government handing over the probe to the CBI. After that, the Central agency will formally take control of the investigation files.
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The Supreme Court in April 2025 dismissed the petition filed by Manjusha, wife of late Naveen Babu, Additional District Magistrate, Kannur, seeking a CBI probe into the death of her husband.
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Earlier, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed Manjusha’s writ appeal in March 2025. The appeal challenged the single judge’s order that dismissed her plea for a CBI probe into her husband’s death.
A single bench of the Kerala High Court in January 2025 rejected the plea filed by Manjusha, seeking to transfer the probe into her husband’s alleged suicide to the CBI, observing that the accused merely having ties with the ruling political dispensation was not ground to transfer investigation to the CBI.
ADM Naveen Babu was found dead in his official quarters at Pallikkunnu in Kannur on the morning of October 15, 2024. He allegedly took his life after facing public humiliation and corruption accusations made by P P Divya, then president of the Kannur district panchayat, at a farewell meeting on October 14, 2024.
Divya accused him of intentionally delaying the issuance of a NoC for Prashanthan, an entrepreneur in Chengalai, Kannur.
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