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

CPI(M) PP leader Divya, an accused in the Kannur additional district judge Naveen Babu suicide case, was arrested by the Kerala Police on Tuesday, hours after a court rejected her anticipatory bail plea. After the arrest was registered, Divya was taken to the district hospital for medical examination and later produced before the Taliparamba Magistrate, who granted her 14-day judicial custody.

A large number of Congress and BJP workers gathered at the places of Divya’s remand, shouting slogans against her and waving black flags. Earlier in the day, she was taken into police custody after Thalassery Chief District and Judicial Magistrate KT Nissar Ahammed rejected her anticipatory bail application. Divya, who was charged with abetment to suicide in the case, was interrogated by the police soon after her arrest. After she was placed in judicial custody, her lawyer told reporters that a bail application would be submitted to the district court on Wednesday.

Attending his supposedly uninvited farewell ceremony on October 14, Divya criticized Babu for delaying the approval of a petrol pump in Chengalai for several months and noted that he had agreed to it only two days after the transfer, hinting that knows the reasons for sudden consent.

The next day, Babu was found dead in his quarters in Kannur. Responding to queries regarding the alleged delay in arresting Divya despite a suicide case being registered against her, Kannur City Police Commissioner Ajit Kumar said, “We did not intervene in the case which was actively pending before the court.”

He added that a 38-page order was issued and based on it, “as soon as the bail application was rejected, we sent our team to locate the accused and in the process took her to custody.” The court rejected Divya’s anticipatory bail application, stating that “the circumstances alone disentitle her to pre-arrest bail.”

In its order, the court, referring to various judgments of the High Court and the Supreme Court, observed that the act of the petitioner (Divya) was pre-planned and premeditated and its sole intention was to insult and humiliate a reputed person of high rank. ranking government official. “As the learned prosecutor argues, granting bail to such a person may certainly send the wrong signal to the public. Taking into account her political power, it can be presumed that there are every possibility for witnesses to influence her by using her influence,” the court said.

Referring to the judgment of the Supreme Court, which stated that bail constituting an extraordinary privilege should be granted only in exceptional cases, the court stated that, taking into account all aspects, including the gravity of the crime, the active role of the accused, it considers that it is not basic matter for granting property bail.

“The petitioner could not demonstrate that this was an exceptional case and (that) she was entitled to pre-arrest bail,” the court said, dismissing her plea. On October 19, Divya had filed a case in the Thalassery Sessions Court seeking anticipatory bail after the police registered a case of abetment to suicide ADM under Section 108 of BNSS against her. Pressure was mounting on the Left government to arrest CPI(M) district committee member Divya.

Reacting to the verdict, Babu’s widow, Manjusha, said: “The person responsible for destroying our lives must be arrested and we will do our best to ensure justice.” “I have nothing more to say but we will do our best,” Manjusha told reporters at her residence in Malayalappuzha in Pathanamthitta district. Breaking her silence for the first time after the incident, Manjusha, the tehsildar, said an inquiry was needed to find out whether there was any negligence in conducting Babu’s post-mortem before the arrival of relatives. She said the district collector should not have allowed Divya to attend the farewell meeting of the staff in Kannur collectorate.

She added that recording Divya’s speech through a local channel was also inappropriate. VD Satheesan, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, said the court’s rejection of Divya’s bail application should prompt her immediate arrest. He also alleged that a “coterie” in the Prime Minister’s Office was protecting Divya.

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