The Kerala High Court has registered a suo moto case in the incident in which a 49-year-old NRI businessman in Kerala reportedly took his life after local authorities inordinately delayed permission for a business on which he had invested huge sums of money.

Sajan Parayil was involved in agri-business in Nigeria was found hanging in his home in Kannur on Tuesday. He had invested more than Rs 16 crore in an auditorium in Anthoor municipality, but was depressed because the official permissions for the building were not coming through. For a building completion certificate that should come from the village level, the businessman had to come to Thiruvananthapuram to meet ministers even after which the certificates were not issued.

“There have also been other instances when local leaders have abetted suicides of NRI investors. If this is the case, how will NRI investors come to Kerala? What security do they have?” asked Muneer.

Anthoor municipality officials have, however, denied any role on their part in the matters leading to Parayil’s death.

Parayil’s wife Beena said her husband had been “severely depressed” in recent days and could not even sleep, worried over the delay in getting the building number allotment. Parayil was based in Nigeria and had businesses across 20 countries, and it was his dream to set up a venture in his home state, too, and generate jobs, his manager said.

—India Legal Bureau