The death of NRI businessman Sajan Parayil will be investigated by a special team headed by Kannur DySP VK Krishnadas, according to an order of the department of home affairs.  

48-year-old businessman Sajan took his own life allegedly after the Anthoor municipality in Kannur refused to grant him a licence for the opening of an auditorium he built in the region.  According to reports, Sajan, who passed away on Tuesday had spent Rs 15 crore to build the auditorium under his son’s name in Bakkalam. The fully constructed auditorium was allegedly not granted a license despite multiple requests.

Following his death, Sajan’s relatives raised serious allegations against the chairperson of the municipality, PK Shyamala. Due to the controversy that ensued, the ruling party suspended all officials in Anthoor municipality, including its secretary.

Speaking to the public, senior CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan alleged that there were lapses on part of the municipality authority in its issuing of licenses and even public representatives did not intervene to fix the issue.

Reports stated that the municipality had also asked for the auditorium to be demolished citing legal violations. However, Sajan had reportedly submitted a complaint against this order. Apart from this, allegations also emerged from Congress MLA Sunny Joseph that the death was a result of a turf war between the municipality chief and P Jayarajan.

He added that though Sajan had sought help from Jayarajan to kickstart the project, the chairperson had said that his contact in high places will not work here.

The Anthoor municipality alleged that they did not refuse to issue the licence to the auditorium and had only asked for the required time to go through all procedures before granting the licence.