The death of a young IAS officer, D.K. Ravi, in Karnataka disrupted proceedings in the Lok Sabha and for the third straight day, stalled business in the State Legislature on Thursday.
In the Lok Sabha, BJP member Prahlad Joshi said the 2009-batch officer, who was found dead in his apartment in Bengaluru on Monday evening, was murdered, and accused the State government of a cover-up as he had initiated action against the real estate lobby.
Intervening in the matter, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre would order a CBI investigation if the State government made a recommendation. Further, Mr. Singh informed the House that he had been in touch with the Chief Minister on this case and had been told that a detailed report would be sent to the Centre within two days.
In Bengaluru, a united Opposition, led by the former Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar of the BJP and H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal(S), met Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala and submitted a petition seeking a CBI investigation.
However, the State government, which has handed over the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Department of the police, maintained that “it is prima facie a case of suicide.”
Chief Minister Siddaramiah was quoted in a Kannada newspaper as revealing details of Ravi’s call records.
Taking strong exception to the government declaring details of an investigation and stating on the floor of the House the cause of death before the investigations have been completed, former CBI Director R.K. Raghavan told The Hindu : “The first mistake was for the Police Commissioner and the State government to have declared it as a suicide even before a post mortem was conducted.”
