IAS officer’s kin threaten suicide, demand CBI probe
FISHY Police claim that the death seems to be a suicide based on the post mortem
BENGALURU: The elderly parents of an IAS officer, who took on the building and sand lobbies in Karnataka, threatened on Wednesday to commit suicide if the government did not order a CBI probe into their son’s controversial death this week.
DK Ravi, who conducted raids on many politically-connected builders in the state capital for tax evasion, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Bengaluru apartment on Monday, sparking speculation he may have been murdered.
The 35-year-old officer’s father, Kariyappa and mother, Gowramma, said their son was under “political pressure,” as they held a protest before the state assembly. But a post-mortem report ruled out foul play, with police saying it seemed like a case of suicide.
“We don’t want to meet anyone, we want justice and if they don’t give us justice, we will commit suicide here,” Gowramma said. “We have no faith in the state government and police,” she added.
Doctors handed over the preliminary autopsy report to the state CID, saying there were no traces of poison, external injuries or struggle marks on Ravi’s body. The Opposition pushed the rattled Congress government into a corner over the issue, as it stalled assembly proceedings for the second straight day while backing the demand for a CBI probe.
“The state government is trying to tarnish the image of an upright officer by saying that he committed suicide due to family discord and for personal reasons,” said BJP lawmaker and former deputy chief minister R Ashok. “It is a cover-up by the government as Ravi had exposed the sand and land mafias in Kolar,” he said.
Rejecting the charges, chief minister Siddaramaiah, who met Ravi’s family, said the CID was competent enough to investigate the case and there was no need for a central inquiry.
Meanwhile, an online petition to the Prime Minister demanding a CBI probe into Ravi’s death has gone viral, garnering nearly 1.3 lakh signatures in less than 24 hours. The petition on change. org, which was started by the proHindu group Uttishta Bharata on Tuesday, takes the line that the real estate mafia of Bengaluru had a role to play in the death.
(With agency inputs)