Pathanamthitta: It has become clear from the petition filed by Manjusha, the wife of Kannur ADM Naveen Babu, demanding a CBI investigation into the death of her husband, that the family of the deceased official has lost trust in both the police investigation and the state government. The family members and well-wishers of Naveen Babu believe that what the government and CPM had initially said—that they were supporting the family—was merely lip service.

There are many reasons behind the changed attitude of the family, which had previously expressed satisfaction with the police investigation following the arrest of PP Divya, CPM leader and the former panchayat president of Kannur. The first signs of this shift came when Manjusha moved the court seeking protection for the call details of Naveen Babu and the CCTV footage related to the case.

The determination of the family to pursue the case became evident when Naveen Babu’s brother stated that the family had no fear of politics. Many pointed out the double standard of the CPM, as the state secretary, MV Govindan, and the Pathanamthitta district leadership kept claiming that the party was with Naveen Babu’s family, while the Kannur district leadership took a stance of protecting PP Divya. The party entrusted the Pathanamthitta unit to assuage the family’s feelings and keep them aligned with the party. As part of this, district leaders visited the family regularly until the arrest of PP Divya. However, since Divya’s release, the frequency of visits from party leaders has decreased, leaving the family irate over the change in stance. Pathanamthitta CPM district secretary KP Udayabhanu still visits the family once a week.

The delay on the part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the case in taking statements from the family members was also widely criticized. Although the team was referred to as a Special Investigation Team, the officials who came to record the statements were the Kannur town SHO and two civil police officers— the same officers who had recorded the family's statements on the day of Naveen Babu’s cremation.

The family alleges that despite the formation of a six-member special squad to investigate the case under the supervision of the Kannur Range DIG, there was no presence of a special squad when the family’s statements were recorded. During the second visit, the town SHO inquired whether the family could identify any phone numbers from the calls received on Naveen Babu’s phone. However, since then, the family has not received any updates from the police regarding the progress of the investigation.

The family said that they had grown suspicious of the lackadaisical approach of the Kannur police right from the beginning, especially when the Kannur town police delayed accepting the complaint filed by Naveen Babu’s brother on the day of the death. They also had raised their protest regarding the police move to complete the postmortem and inquest proceedings before the family members reached Kannur.