Karnataka cops under scanner over stock broker's suicide

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Tuesday ordered a probe into a claim in a suicide note allegedly written by a stock broker that he was taking his life due to harassment by two police officers to pay Rs.7 crore.

"The CID (Criminal Investigation Department) will investigate and action will be taken whoever is involved," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

The body of businessman Ripon Malhotra of Pune in Maharashtra was found hanging in a house in east Bangalore Saturday.

Malhotra frequently visited Bangalore in connection with his business and used to stay with a friend in east Bangalore, police said.

Though no suicide note was found in the house, reports in a section of Bangalore media said Malhotra had posted the note to the chief minister's office.

Siddaramaiah Tuesday said he had read the letter and ordered the probe by CID.

Malhotra is said to have written in the letter that he had suffered huge losses in his business and Bangalore city police commissioner and deputy commissioner of police, City Crime Branch, D. Devaraj had been harassing him to pay Rs.7 crore or face arrest.

This had led to him to commit suicide, the note claimed.

The note did not name the police commissioner but apparently it referred to B.G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji, who held the post till June 30. He is now principal secretary, home department.

The note claimed that two police officers were acting like "recovery agents".

The note will be examined by handwriting experts to ascertain whether it was indeed written by Malhotra, a police spokesperson told reporters.