A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on an appeal filed by K. Manjusha, widow of former Kannur ADM Naveen Babu, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into her husband’s death after hearing arguments of her new senior counsel K. Ramakumar in the case.
She has replaced his earlier counsel following the submission made by her former counsel that the investigation may be handed over to the Crime Branch if the court is not inclined to order a CBI probe.
The Bench comprising Justice P.B. Suresh Kumar and Justice Jobin Sebastian also directed the prosecution to furnish the case diary.
The appeal is filed against a single judge’s verdict dismissing her writ petition for a CBI probe into the death. The new counsel appearing for her contended that the police had taken contradictory stances in the affidavit filed before the court regarding the death of Naveen Babu. While the police at one point of the affidavit said that it was a homicide even as the affidavit in another part indicated that it was a case of suicide. He also argued that the police had not investigated properly the report of medical examination of blood stains found on his clothes. Even before the post-mortem was completed, police officers had concluded that it was a case of suicide. The apparent flaws and discrepancies in the present investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). As the accused P. P. Divya is a prominent leader of the ruling party, only an impartial agency like CBI can conduct a probe into the case. She alleged that the SIT was trying to conceal evidence to save the accused.
Published - February 11, 2025 06:46 pm IST
