Karnataka Chief Minister hands IAS officer D.K Ravi case to CBI and calls for final report in three months

 

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (front, right) announcing that the CBI will probe the  IAS officer D.K Ravi case, in the Karnataka Assembly

A week after young and dynamic IAS officer D.K. Ravi died under mysterious circumstances in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government has bowed to pressure from the victim’s family, the public and Opposition parties, and handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - but with a rider.

“We want the CBI to complete the probe and submit the report within three months considering the sensitivity of the case. We will make this clear to the CBI in our official letter,” a senior state minister said. 

“Last week, I too felt the need for handing over the case to the CBI. However, as our CID police had commenced the probe, I wanted to wait for the interim report. 

"Now, the Karnataka government has decided to entrust the task of probing the death to the CBI because of the respect I have for his family,” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah informed the Assembly on Monday March 23,2015

The announcement was preceded by an insinuation against the Opposition to which the BJP members took strong objection, staging a walk-out from the House. 

The Janata Dal-Secular, however, welcomed the state government’s decision. 

Former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy said: “We hope that justice will prevail eventually. The state government should not have waited for this long. It should have handed over the case to the CBI voluntarily.” 

Note

IAS officer D.KRavi died under mysterious circumstances on Monday March 16,2015 with his body found hanging at his government-allotted apartment in Bengaluru. 

The family members found him dead when they opened the apartment doors with a second key after he had remained unresponsive since 11am

Bengaluru City Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi had declared it to be a suicide case. However, over the past week, Ravi’s parents, his wife and the public staged statewide demonstrations demanding a probe by the CBI considering the threats Ravi faced from the sand mafia and builders who he was investigating. 

Karnataka’s Home Minister K.J. George has refused to step down after the state government decided to hand over the probe into the death of Ravi to the CBI. 

George was accused of stonewalling a CBI probe allegedly because of his business links with realty firms, which were being probed by Ravi. 

Though George denied any links with such realty firms, there was pressure on him to quit ensuring a fair probe.