Kannur District Collector Arun K Vijayan was not a friendly officer in whom ADM Naveen Babu reposed confidence, the counsel of Naveen Babu's wife had told the court while objecting the bail plea of P P Divya, according to the court order. Earlier, while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of Divya, the court order reproduced a statement of the Collector, which said that Naveen Babu met him in the official chamber and told him that he had committed a mistake. This statement deepened the mystery surrounding allegations of bribe hinted by P P Divya at the farewell meeting of Naveen Babu. He allegedly died by suicide in his official residence a day later.
The copy of the order granting bail to Divya by Thalassery sessions judge K T Nisar Ahammed shows that Naveen's family took strong exception to the statement of the Collector. "District Collector was not at all a friendly superior officer in whom the deceased (Naveen Babu) can reposed confidence. The Collector never allowed the deceased to take a casual leave. Even on weekends, he was not allowed to go to his native place as he was put in charge of District Collector," the counsel told the court.
The order shows that all these facts were shared by Naveen Babu to his wife and family and that was the reason she refused permission to the Collector to attend Naveen Babu's funeral. " In spite of all these, the Collector issued a condolence letter praising the efficiency of the deceased," the counsel pointed out. It was further contended that if Naveen Babu had made such a confession, what prevented the Collector from reporting the same to the vigilance department and to cancel the NoC given to the petrol pump. The Collector also refused to give a statement to the inquiry officer Geetha A, the counsel of Naveen Babu's wife cited.
The court however did not accept the contention that the Collector's statement about Naveen Babu's confession was a subsequent creation on the influence of Divya to save her. The counsel reiterated that there was unholy nexus between Divya, Collector and Prasanth who had levelled bribery allegation against Naveen Babu. The judge was not inclined the accept the argument. The court noted that the statement of the Collector was there in the case diary when it was produced first time in the pre-arrest bail petition.
