Karnataka orders CBI probe in IAS officer's death

The Karnataka government on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the death of IAS officer D.K. Ravi here a week ago that triggered public outrage after police prime facie termed it a case of suicide.

"We are handing over the probe into Ravi's death to the CBI not because of the pressure from the opposition (parties) but keeping in view the feelings of his family," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told lawmakers in the legislative assembly here.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will take over Ravi's case from the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was entrusted to probe it, though preliminary investigation by a special police team found it to be a suicide.

Ravi, 36, was found dead on March 16 in his apartment in the city's upscale southeast suburb by his wife Kusuma and her father after he did not attend to her calls since noon.

The 2009 batch officer was additional commissioner in the commercial tax department in the city since December 2014 on transfer as deputy commissioner of Kolar district, about 100 km away, where he built a reputation of being an upright officer for reining in the sand and land mafias.

The decision to transfer the case to 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 demand for CBI probe by the opposition BJP and JD-S (Janata Dal-Secular) in both the houses.

A stay by the Karnataka High Court on Sunday evening against the release of the CID's interim report into Ravi's death to public prevented the chief minister from tabling it on the floor of the house.