An additional district magistrate allegedly hanged himself in Kerala’s Kannur district on Tuesday, a day after he was criticised by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader PP Divya at a public function, The Hindu reported.
The Opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Divya, who is also the district panchayat president, of abetting the magistrate Naveen Babu’s alleged suicide.
The police filed a case of unnatural death in the matter.
Babu, who was also a deputy collector, was scheduled to take office as the additional district magistrate in Pathanamthitta on Wednesday. A farewell gathering had been organised for him at the district collectorate in Kannur.
Though Divya was not invited, she attended the gathering and publicly accused Babu of corruption in issuing a no-objection certificate for a petrol pump at Chengala in the district, according to The Indian Express.
“We should be honest in life,” the newspaper quoted Divya as telling those in attendance. “In the place of his new posting, he [Babu] should not work in the manner he had done in Kannur…This is government service and a moment is enough for something to happen.”
Divya left the gathering midway and claimed that her reason for doing so would be revealed in two days, The Indian Express reported.
After news of Babu’s death broke on Tuesday, Congress leader VD Satheesan accused Divya of “second-degree murder” and said that she had no business attending an official event uninvited, The Hindu reported.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly claimed that Divya used the media for “maximum publicity” to make “defamatory and demeaning” allegations against Babu.
Satheesan added that Divya could have filed a formal complaint against Babu but instead “chose to insult the officer in front of his colleagues who had gathered to bid him farewell”.
Babu was the latest victim of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s high-handedness in the state, the Congress leader said. “The arrogance of two consecutive terms in power has gone to the CPI(M) leadership’s head,” he added.
BJP state chief K Surendran demanded Divya’s immediate arrest, claiming that government officials “worked in fear” under the Left Democratic Front government.
The Left Democratic Front is an alliance of political parties in Kerala led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
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