P P Divya
Credit: X/@Rockumon
Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) leader and former Kannur district panchayat president P P Divya was arrested and remanded to 14 days of judicial custody on Tuesday in connection with the abetment of suicide of additional district magistrate Naveen Babu.
Divya, who had been in a hideout over the last two weeks, was denied anticipatory bail by a local court in Kannur on Tuesday. Subsequently she was arrested.
The court cited that prima facie it was found that Divya snubbed Babu and circulated video footage of the same with the intention of insulting him, even as there was no evidence of any corruption by the officer.
Reacting to the verdict, Babu's wife Manjusha demanded that Divya should be arrested. "The one who destroyed our family should be arrested," she said.
Manjusha, reacting to the media for the first time after Babu's death also criticised Divya for humiliating Babu. She said that on the night before his death Babu had spoken to her over phone and he was very upset over the baseless allegations levelled against him by Divya.
Babu was found hanging in his official residence at Kannur on October 15, a day after he was criticised by Divya during his farewell function. She accused Babu of deliberately delaying a petrol pump application for getting illegal benefits.
While there were reports that Divya surrendered to the police after the anticipatory bail was denied, the police claimed that she was taken into custody. The police had come under fire for delaying her arrest over the last two weeks.
A section of CPI(M) leaders from Kannur were allegedly trying to protect Divya and arranged hideout even as the party state leadership reiterated that the party would remain with Babu's family. Babu hailed from a traditional party family and the CPI(M) leaders from his home district Pathanamthitta have been backing the family strongly.
Opposition party Congress-led United Democratic Front alleged that Divya was being protected by the CPI(M) leadership as well as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan said that the arrest was only an election gimmick.
"Divya was being protected by the CPI(M) as per the instruction of a party caucus operating out of the Chief Minister's office. The police were considering her as a VIP owing to party's pressure," he added.