Kerala court gives CPI(M) leader Divya police custody for 6 hours – ThePrint – PTIFeed

Kannur (Kerala), Nov 1 (PTI) A Kerala court on Friday granted CPI(M) leader PP Divya six-hour police custody in connection with questioning the suicide case of Additional District Judge Naveen Babu.

The Judicial Magistrate’s Court of First Class (JFCM) has allowed the police to interrogate Divya, accused of abetting Babu’s suicide, till 5 p.m.

She was then interrogated at the Kannur Town police station by the investigation team.

Meanwhile, the Thalassery principal district court has adjourned Divya’s bail application till Tuesday.

On the day, the Congress also organized a protest march targeting collectors demanding action against District Collector Arun K. Vijayan.

The protest was led by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran, who said the Collector should have had the courage to stop Divya from pressing charges against her.

The KPCC chief also alleged that the Collector tried to help Divya, saying Babu later admitted his mistake.

He said that the Collector should be ready to correct his stand.

Sudhakaran also accused Divya of involvement in corrupt activities.

After his speech ended, police used water cannons several times to disperse protesters, but to no avail.

The protesters also clashed with the police present at the collector.

The Congress protest came days after it alleged that the collector was forced to say that his former colleague – late ADM Naveen Babu – had admitted to committing a mistake following bribery charges leveled against him.

According to the Collector’s statement to the police, after the farewell function during which Divya raised corruption allegations against ADM, Babu met Vijayan in his chamber and said that he had committed a mistake.

The collector on Friday told reporters that he stands by what he said in his statement to the police.

On the other hand, Babu’s family stated that he would not admit his mistake before the Collector.

Babu’s wife said that he was not too close to the Collector to make such a statement.

She also said that she did not like the Collector’s body language in the farewell video and stated that if he had consoled Babu over Divya’s accusations, what happened could have been prevented.

Attending Babu’s farewell function, allegedly uninvited, on October 14, Divya criticized him for delaying for several months the approval of a petrol pump in Chengalai and noted that he agreed only two days after the transfer, hinting that knows the reasons for the sudden consent.

The next day, Babu was found dead in his quarters in Kannur.

On October 19, Divya had filed a case in the Thalassery Sessions Court seeking anticipatory bail after the police registered a case against her for abetting ADM’s suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

On October 29, the sessions court rejected her anticipatory bail application, following which she was arrested and sent to judicial custody for 14 days. PTI COR HMP HMP KH

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