Kerala CPI(M) leader Divya arrested in ADM suicide case after bail plea rejected

CPI(M) leader PP Divya, accused in the suicide case of Kannur Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu, was arrested on Tuesday by Kerala Police, hours after a court rejected her anticipatory bail plea. After recording her arrest, Divya was taken for a medical examination at the district hospital and then produced before a magistrate in Taliparamba who remanded her to 14 days judicial custody.

A large number of Congress and BJP workers gathered at the locations where Divya was taken as part of the remand proceedings, shouting slogans against her and waving black flags. Earlier in the day, she had been taken into custody by the police after Principal District and Sessions Judge, Thalassery, K T Nissar Ahammed, rejected her anticipatory bail plea. Divya, who has been charged with abetment to suicide in the case, was interrogated by the police shortly after being taken into custody. After she was remanded to judicial custody, her lawyer told reporters that a bail plea would be moved before the sessions court on Wednesday.

Attending his send-off function allegedly uninvited on October 14, Divya had criticised Babu for delaying approval for a petrol pump in Chengalai for several months and remarked he had okayed it only two days after being transferred, hinting she knew the reasons behind the sudden approval.

The following day, Babu was found dead at his quarters in Kannur. Responding to queries regarding the alleged delay in taking Divya into custody despite a case being registered against her in connection with the suicide, Kannur city police commissioner Ajit Kumar said, "We did not intervene in a matter that was under active judicial consideration."

He added there was a 38-page order, and based on it, "as soon as the anticipatory bail application was rejected, we sent our team to locate the accused and, in the process, took her into custody." The court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Divya, observing that "the circumstances itself disentitle her the relief of pre-arrest bail."

In its order, the court, referring to various judgments of the Supreme Court and High Court, observed that the act of the petitioner (Divya) was a pre-planned and premeditated one with the sole intention of insulting and humiliating a highly reputed high-ranking government official. "As submitted by the learned public prosecutor, if such a person is granted the relief of pre-arrest bail, definitely it may give a wrong message to the society. By considering her political power, one can presume that there is every possibility of influencing the witnesses by using her influence," the court said.

Referring to a verdict of the Supreme Court which said the anticipatory bail being an extraordinary privilege should be granted only in exceptional case, the court said by considering the entire aspects including the gravity of the offence, the active role played by the accused, it was of the opinion that this is not a fit case to grant the pre-arrest bail.

"The petitioner could not make out a case that this is an exceptional case and (that) she is entitled for pre-arrest bail," the court ruled, dismissing her plea. Divya moved the Thalassery Sessions Court on October 19, seeking anticipatory bail after the police registered a case against her for abetting the suicide of the ADM under Section 108 of the BNSS. Pressure mounted on the Left government to arrest Divya, who is a district committee member of the CPI (M).

Reacting to the verdict, Babu's widow Manjusha said, "The person responsible for destroying our lives must be arrested, and we will go to any lengths to ensure justice." "I have nothing more to say, but we will go to any extent," Manjusha told reporters at her residence in Malayalappuzha in Pathanamthitta district. Breaking her silence for the first time after the incident, Manjusha, a tehsildar, said an investigation is necessary to determine if there was negligence in conducting the post-mortem of Babu before relatives arrived. She said the district collector should not have allowed Divya to attend the staff farewell meeting at Kannur collectorate.

Recording Divya's speech via a local channel was also inappropriate, she added. V D Satheesan, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, stated that the court's rejection of Divya's anticipatory bail plea should prompt her immediate arrest. He also alleged that 'a coterie' in the Chief Minister's Office was protecting Divya.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)