KANNUR: Amidst the raining insults and taunting remarks from Kannur district Panchayat president, ADM Naveen Babu's face had an inscrutable countenance. It later turned into a smile. Naveen Babu was happy to get a transfer from Kannur to his native Pathanamthitta. The farewell function was plain sailing when panchayat PP Divya entered the scene uninvited.
Colleagues were sharing fond memories of Naveen Babu when Divya took over the scene. Silence ensued when the president started giving her farewell speech. Nobody had any account of what was in store. For every taunting remark from Divya, the ADM bowed his head in correspondence. The whole issue circled delaying the ‘No Objection Certificate’ for a petrol pump. Divya even gave a sly warning about making bigger revelations in the coming days.
Despite the bitter remarks, the collector kept his dignity and requested Divya to hand over the parting gift to Naveen but she denied it and walked away. By this time, the smile has waned away from the ADM’s face. He was frozen in his seat and had no idea what to do amidst the startling silence in the room. Despite the humiliation in front of his colleagues, the ADM slowly got up and brought back the smile to his face while receiving the gift from the collector.
Colleagues say that ADM Naveen was shattered and was silent all through his way back to the house.
Naveen Babu's neighbour PWD Assistant Engineer Ranjith said that he came to know about the incident when the driver of ADM came and informed him about the missing. Naveen’s wife and children were perturbed after the phone calls went unanswered. However, the phone was still ringing and the tower location was found as Kannur. Police were informed and later the body was found inside the quarters.
No suicide note was found in Naveen Babu's body or his house. The items in the house have been taken into custody for investigation. The body was found hanging. The Congress leaders alleged that the body was taken away from the house to destroy the evidence.