KANNUR: In a new statement, Kannur district collector Arun K Vijayan denied inviting panchayat president P P Divya to ADM Naveen Babu’s farewell function. The collector was responding to the media in Kannur. The Collector clarified that the program was conducted by the Staff Council.

COLLECTOR:

“I am not the organizer of the event and I cannot invite anyone into it. The district panchayat president was not interrupted because it would be a violation of protocol. I won’t be saying anything more on the topic, which is now under investigation. I will cooperate with any investigation into the unfortunate death of ADM Naveen Babu. The letter sent to Naveen’s family was not an admission of guilt but an expression of sympathy for the family’s grief.”

Meanwhile, PP Divya submitted a copy of the speech made at the function to the court. Divya said she intended to convince the ADM to speed up file movement that would eventually benefit the public.

Divya in court:

“Official hassles kept me late from attending the event. I dialled the collector to check whether the event was over or not. He informed me that the function was ongoing and requested me to drop by and attend it.”