The death of a young IAS officer who took on the sand mafia in Karnataka continued to rock the state as Opposition lawmakers attacked Chief Minister Siddaramiah for ruling out a CBI probe amid accusation of foul play by his father.
Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy said Siddaramiah was trying to influence the post mortem reports of IAS officer DK Ravi.
"The way in which our Chief Minister visited the place where post mortem was conducted, people are feeling that he went there to influence post-mortem officers. We will continue our protest until the government orders a CBI inquiry into IAS officer DK Ravi's death case," Kumaraswamy told ANI.
I certainly see some foul play behind DK Ravi's death,CBI investigation should be done: Frmr Lokayukta Santosh Hegde pic.twitter.com/oItUDQ1BpA
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 18, 2015
Caught on Camera: Congress ministers take a nap when IAS officer DK Ravi's death issue was raised in Karnataka Assembly
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 17, 2015
Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs held a night long protest inside the Karnataka Assembly yesterday, demanding a CBI inquiry into Ravi's death.
Ravi, who took on the sand mafia in Karnataka's Kolar District, was an Additional Commissioner on deputation with the Commercial Tax department.
Union Law Minister Sadananda Gowda had said that everybody suspected the 36-year-old's death was a cold-blooded murder and urged the Karnataka government to look into the matter.
Siddaramiah, however, said the city police was capable of investigating the mysterious death of Ravi and added that it remained to be seen if the case will be referred to the investigating agencies.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi had earlier pointed out that forensic and medical evidence hinted that IAS officer D.K. Ravi's death was prima facie a case of suicide. He added that a thorough investigation was on and warned against jumping to any conclusion.
Father suspects foul play
Meanwhile, Ravi’s father told Times Now news channel that his son was “under pressure from builders." The claim was supported by social activist and whistleblower Ganesh S Koundiny who told PTI Ravi was planning raids on some big developers to unearth commercial tax evasion.
DK Ravi's father suspects foul play, says IAS officer was under pressure http://t.co/5rIQjA7q6g
— Times of India (@timesofindia) March 18, 2015
Ravi, after taking over as Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Enforcement) in October, had recovered an income tax of Rs 400 crore from housing societies.
"I had a conversation with Ravi on Thursday and Friday, if I remember. He told me that he had conducted raids on some developers and housing societies and recovered Rs 400 crore as income tax ... Ravi was looking at raiding some big developers in Bangalore and he wanted to recover the evasion of taxes," Koudinhy said.
The activist said that the deceased officer was eager to meet him to get some documentary evidence in his possession so they both could work together to unearth commercial tax violations.
"Since Ravi wanted some documents from me, he got in touch with me so that we both could work together to see that commercial tax violation could be unearthed," he added.
Koundiny also said he was planning to meet Ravi in a couple days. "Ravi told me to meet this week and I was contemplating to meet him today or tomorrow, but before that this incident happened," he added.
The Indian Express quoted a source in the forensic department as saying that it was a clear case of suicide. “The death occurred around 11 or 11.30 am. The officer may have laid down on the mattress on the floor of his bedroom for a while before committing suicide. It is a case of hanging. There were no other injuries on the body,” the source said.
Ravi’s last rites were performed at his village near Kunigal.
(With inputs from agencies)
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