Overview
- The Kerala Cabinet met on Thursday and formally recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation take over the probe into former Kannur ADM Naveen Babu’s death and approved a compassionate government job for his daughter Niranjana.
- The move responds to repeated requests from Babu’s family, who have said the local police and special investigation team failed to answer key questions about the circumstances of his death.
- P.P. Divya, the one person named in the charge sheet, publicly accused Babu at his farewell the day before he was found dead; reports differ on the exact date of his death in 2024, with some accounts saying mid-October and others citing mid‑August.
- Because the previous state government had withdrawn blanket permission for the CBI to operate in Kerala, the new administration’s formal recommendation was required for a central agency to begin work on the case.
- The CBI is expected to investigate who arranged the public allegations, the petrol‑pump NOC controversy linked to the accusations, and any wider involvement, while the case remains under judicial consideration and is likely to sharpen political scrutiny of the earlier CPI(M)-led government.