The CBI on Monday refused to probe the death of IAS officer DK Ravi, objecting to the conditions placed by the Karnataka government.
35-year-old Ravi, a popular bureaucrat for being honest and gutsy in taking on the sand and land mafia and tax evaders, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his flat in Bengaluru on March 16, with the police saying it was a case of suicide prima facie.
The investigative agency objected to the 3-month timeline set by the state government for the probe, saying there is no provision in law to complete investigations in a given period.
It has said that the Karnataka government handing over probe to CBI cannot give time limit for concluding it, hence a fresh notification has been sought from the state government.
According to reports, CBI has said that scope of investigation in the case cannot be decided by the state government and probe may be restricted to family or may go up to government or mafia.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said his government would again request the investigating body to probe the case. “They have sent it back, saying that do not put the condition like that. Again we will send it to the CBI,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.
Ravi’s family had threatened to commit suicide if the government does not adhere to their demands. They raised doubts over police’s claim that he committed suicide and hinted that he was under “political pressure”, insisting on a CBI probe.
A woman bureaucrat, with whom Ravi was allegedly in love, had told investigators that Ravi was behind her and was pestering her to marry him, though she was married.
The CID officials, who are probing the suicide case of Ravi, interrogated the woman officer. Sources in the CID confirmed that Ravi had taken the extreme step because of his personal problems and rubbished the theories that any ‘pressure’ or ‘blackmail’ had droved the upright officer to commit suicide.
Before Ravi ended his life, he called her several times and pestered her to marry him and also threatened that he would take an extreme step if she denied. However, the woman officer told him clearly that she cannot marry him after which he hanged himself,” a senior officer said.
