Recalling an incident when Naveen was the Ranni tahsildar, Divya said, “He once came to meet me in my chamber at the collectorate to inform me about his promotion as the deputy collector in Kasaragod. He was so happy. That was the last time I saw him. We had been in touch through messages. I never anticipated a meeting like this here,” said Divya.

She said Naveen was a humble person and she never saw him without a smile on his face. “It was hard to behave rudely towards him,” she said, while also remembering his service during 2018 flood and the Sabarimala protests.

In a Facebook post, Nooh recalled Naveen as one of the few officials who could be depended upon for any work with 100% trust and without any complaints from anyone. Offering his condolences, Nooh said he could only say that it (Naveen’s death) is a loss for the public.

Remembering the time of the 2018 flood, when thousands of children came forward as volunteers, Nooh said there was no better officer than Naveen to be given the charge of coordinating them.

“He deserved at least a better send-off after working for more than 30 years in a government department that was most useful to the common people and had a lot of workload,” Nooh said in the post.