Amid heart-rending scenes and outpour of anger against the Income Tax Department, the body of Ramesh, personal assistant of former Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, was cremated at his native village Melehalli in Ramanagaram district on Sunday.
Hundreds of people from nearby villages and Bengaluru and Tumakuru districts were present when his mortal remains were consigned to flames on a farmland at his native in Kootagal hobli.
The 40-year-old, who worked with the Congress leader for eight years, was found dead near the Sports Authority of India grounds on the Jnana Bharathi campus in Bangalore University on Saturday. He was interrogated by the I-T officials for nearly two days over the ongoing searches on properties belonging to Mr. Parameshwara.
Anger against Centre
Meanwhile, a section of villagers expressed their anger against the Union government accusing it of misusing Central agencies to target those linked with the Opposition parties. They raised slogans against the I-T Department, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the BJP. The angry relatives and villagers demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Ramesh’s death.
“The I-T Department has suddenly slowed down searches after his death and are trying to mislead people by saying that it did not grill Ramesh. There is evidence, including CCTV footage and eyewitnesses, to prove that it had harassed the victim,” one of his relatives told presspersons.
A. Manjunath, Magadi MLA, Ramesh’s brother Satish, and some others held the I-T Department responsible for his untimely death.
The most distressing scenes were witnessed when Ramesh’s son Mohith was seen hugging Mr. Parameshwara and saying “ Appa Beku ” (I want my father back) before lighting the pyre. Mr. Parameshwara consoled him, spoke to Ramesh’s family members, and promised to take care of them.
