The State government and the Chief Minister cannot claim to know the “truth” with regard to the death of IAS officer D.K. Ravi when the probe is not yet complete, and they cannot make statements any more on the matter when the probe has been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A statement in this regard was filed on behalf of Sudhir Reddy, husband of the woman IAS officer who is Ravi’s batchmate, before the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday.
Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, before whom Mr. Reddy’s petition against the disclosure of investigation details came up for hearing, adjourned further hearing till April 6. The court has asked the government to file its rejoinder to the statement, which was filed opposing the State’s plea for vacating the interim order in which the court, on March 22, restrained the State from making any statement on the probe.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The Chief Minister’s statement that he wants to come out with the truth bears no legal logic … when the investigation itself is incomplete, let alone a final determination by the courts, the State or the Chief Minister can hardly claim to be aware of the truth …,” it has been claimed in the statement. This was in response to the Chief Minister’s claim in the legislature that he could not tell the “truth” due to the interim order of the court.
“There can be no question of publishing anything that has been collected thus far during the course of investigation conducted by the CID … There is certainly no way of arriving at any preliminary conclusion however plausible it may be at a stage when all aspects of investigation are yet to be complete,” it has been contended.
Denying the government’s allegation that the petition was a device to achieve the alleged objective of the Opposition parties, it was stated that the petitioner was only fighting for the right to privacy and dignity of himself and his wife.
ADVERTISEMENT