IAS officer's death: Karnataka assembly adjourned till Monday

Bengaluru, March 19 (IANS) The Karnataka legislative assembly was on Thursday adjourned till Monday amid uproar by the opposition lawmakers over the state government not allowing a CBI probe into the death of IAS officer D.K. Ravi here.

As soon as the house commenced the budget session, opposition BJP and JD-S members trooped near the speaker's podium and sought a CBI inquiry even as the ruling Congress maintained that the CID (criminal investigation department) probe was underway to find out if Ravi's death was a suicide or a murder.

The 36-year-old additional commissioner in the state commercial tax department was found dead in his official apartment on March 16 by his wife Kusuma when she entered the flat with a duplicate key after he did not respond to her calls.

When the opposition members refused to withdraw the protest demonstration and continued with sloganeering, speaker Kagodu Thimappa adjourned the house till Monday.

Later, BJP and JD-S members submitted a memorandum to state governor Vajubhai Vala at Raj Bhavan, seeking his intervention in handing over the case to the CBI.

Meanwhile, the ABVP activists held a protest in the city demanding a CBI probe into Ravi's mysterious death. They also clashed with police when they were not allowed to march towards Vidhana Soudha in the city centre.

Protests were also held at Kolar, about 100km from here, and Tumakuru, about 70km from here, against the state government for not allowing a CBI probe into Ravi's death,

Ravi, who hailed from Tumakuru district, was deputy commissioner of Kolar in 2013-14 where he became popular for taking action against sand and land mafias.

Ravi's aged parents Kariappa and Gowramma also staged a demonstration at the state secretariat in the city seeking CBI probe into the tragic death of their son.