‘Personal feelings not enough’: Kerala HC rejects plea for CBI probe into ADM’s death

Ex-Kannur ADM Naveen Babu’s wife Manjusha said she was disappointed by the verdict rejecting her request for a CBI probe into her husband’s death

KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Monday rejected a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death of former Kannur additional district magistrate (ADM) Naveen Babu who was found dead at home in October last year.

Then Kannur district panchayat president PP Divya, who had accused Babu of corruption at his farewell function, was arrested by the police for his death. He was released on bail after 11 days (FIle Image)

A bench of justices PB Suresh Kumar and Jobin Sebastian rejected the appeal filed by the civil servant’s wife, observing that the personal feelings of the official’s family were not enough to warrant a transfer of the probe from the state police to CBI.

Babu, a revenue officer, was found dead in his government quarters on October 15 last year, a day after CPM leader and then Kannur district panchayat president PP Divya, while speaking at the official’s farewell function, accused him of taking a bribe for a no-objection certificate (NOC) for a fuel station.

Divya was arrested and spent 11 days behind bars before securing bail. The probe was handed to a special investigation team (SIT) headed by the Kannur Town inspector. However, Babu’s wife moved the high court in December last year to seek a CBI probe, arguing that the current police probe was ineffective.

The deceased officer’s wife, Manjusha, contended that a police probe conducted by the SIT lacked credibility and that the accused had ties to the state’s ruling party CPI(M) and could easily influence witnesses at ease. This petition was rejected by a single judge bench on February 6.

Manjusha’s appeal to the division bench was rejected on Monday. “The personal feelings of the victim, howsoever genuine, is not enough to warrant a transfer. If the principle aforesaid is not adopted while considering the requests for transferring investigation, the public would think that the system can be easily swayed by outside influence and consequently lose faith in the normal legal process,” the bench said.

The high court also said that this was not a case where there were allegations against top officials of the state government or the police.

“This is also not a case where the CBI, or for that matter any investigative agency, would be in an advantageous position to carry out the investigation in a fair and impartial manner,” the court said.

Manjusha told reporters that she was disappointed. “We had hoped that our request for a CBI probe would be approved. But we are disappointed by the verdict today. We will speak with our legal counsel and decide our future course of action,” she said.