Suicide note alleges money laundered for Reddy wedding

A KARNATAKA bureaucrat’s former driver has left a suicide note accusing the officer of harassing him as he feared that he would spill the beans about his alleged role in laundering money for mining baron G Janardhan Reddy.

The driver, K C Ramesh, 30, allegedly committed suicide at a lodge in Maddur on Tuesday by consuming alcohol laced with poison.

In his 12-page suicide note, Ramesh has alleged that Karnataka Administrative Services officer L Bhima Naik had been trying to silence him since he had helped him launder the money, including for the lavish wedding of Reddy’s daughter recently. He has accused the officer of helping launder money for Reddy as well as his associate and BJP MP Ballari B Sriramulu ahead of the wedding.

Ramesh has accused Naik’s driver Mohammed of harassment as well. “We have seized the death note and registered a case of abetment of suicide against Bhima Naik and Mohammed,’’ a police officer said.

“The note alleges that Naik threatened Ramesh because he was aware of some of the illegal activities of the officer. He has also mentioned not receiving his salary for three months,” the police officer said.

The police said that Ramesh accused Naik of providing Rs 25 crore to Reddy for the wedding. “Naik told me that he had given Rs 25 crore for the marriage of Reddy’s daughter on November 15 in Bengaluru. He also illegally exchanged Rs 100 crore in black money and took 20 per cent commission for it,’’ Ramesh alleged in his note.

“He took around Rs 100 crore in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from Reddy and returned them in Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 notes to him,” he alleged in the note.

Ramesh listed the assets of Naik, who is a special land acquisition officer in Bengaluru. He also accused Naik of trying to influence judges to hush up corruption cases the Karnataka Lokayukta police registered against the officer.

“Preliminary investigations show that driver Ramesh had problems with Naik with whom he was employed on a five-year contract. He told his friends and brother about the problems he was facing,’’ an official said.

Karnataka’s Anti-corruption Bureau has separately collected the note to assess Naik’s assets.