IAS officer's death: Karnataka transfers probe to CBI

Bengaluru, March 24 (IANS) The Karnataka government on Tuesday handed over the probe into the mysterious death of IAS officer D.K. Ravi to the CBI.

In a notification here, the government informed the union home ministry to ensure the probe by the country's premier investigation agency would commence in three months of the order issued.

"We have sent the notification to the union home ministry, with a request for an early CBI probe into the 'unnatural' death of Ravi here last week (March 16)," a state home ministry official told IANS.

The notification was issued a day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told lawmakers in the assembly that the case would be hand over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respect the wishes of the officer's family.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament on March 19 that the central government would allow a CBI inquiry into Ravi's death if Karnataka agreed to it.

Ravi, 36, was found dead in his apartment in the city by his wife Kusuma on that fateful day after he did not attend to her phone calls.

City police commissioner M.N. Reddi, however, termed Ravi's death prime facie a case of suicide on the basis of evidence gathered during the preliminary investigation.

Karnataka had on March 17 ordered an inquiry by the state's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to suicide and not section 302, which deals with murder.

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2009 batch was additional commissioner in the state's commercial tax department in Bengaluru since December 2014 after he was transferred from Kolar district, about 100 km from here, where as as deputy commissioner he built a reputation of being an upright officer for reining in the sand and land mafias.

"In view of the public outrage over the incident, we hope the union home ministry will direct the CBI to begin the probe at the earliest to unravel the truth behind Ravi's mysterious death," the state home ministry official added.

The CBI will issues notice to all concerned, including witnesses, for their deposition after discussing the case with the CID, which was investigating it till Sunday.

The decision to transfer the case to the CBI came three days after Congress president Sonia Gandhi on March 20 advised Siddaramaiah to that effect, as the budget session of the legislature remained paralysed since March 17 in the face of vociferous demands for a CBI probe by the BJP and Janata Dal-Secular in both the houses.

The Karnataka government had decide to table the preliminary report in the assembly, but the high court issued a stay order on a writ petition by Sudhir Reddy, husband of woman IAS officer Rohini Sindhoori Dasari, whom Ravi had called many times and sent text messages to her mobile phone an hour before he allegedly hanged himself.

Ravi and Rohini, who is the CEO of Mandya zila parishad, about 100 km from Bengaluru, were batchmates of the IAS cadre.