DK Ravi’s death: IAS officers sign online petition addressed to PM Modi for CBI probe

Bengaluru: Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa has claimed that four senior IAS officers, Mr Madan Gopal, Mr Pankajkumar Pandey, Mr Harsh Gupta and Ms Rashmi Mahesh have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a CBI probe into D.K. Ravi’s death.

“We got this information from the Prime Minister’s Office,” he added.

“I came to know that Ravi’s parents are planning to go on a hunger strike near Kengal Hanumanthaiah statue demanding a CBI probe into their son’s death and a similar job for their daughter-in-law."

“The government had to consider giving a job to Ravi’s wife on humanitarian grounds and place the proposal before the state Cabinet besides treating it as a special case to give her the same job.”

Read: IAS officer DK Ravi’s death: CID starts probe, seizes gadgets

Mr Eshwarappa urged Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee who is also president of Karnataka State IAS Officers Association to press for a CBI probe into Ravi’s death and not succumb to the Congress government’s pressure.

When contacted, Mr Madan Gopal told Deccan Chronicle that he had signed a petition online which said, “Prime Minister of India, Home Minister of India: Make CBI probe mysterious death of IAS officer D.K. Ravi.”

“Not only me, around 1,51,000 people across the country including several IAS officers, journalists and the wives of IAS officers too have signed this online petition,” he said.

Meanwhile, another IAS officer on the condition of anonymity told this correspondent that “several members of the IAS officers Association discussed the issue. We are meeting in the next two-three days to take a decision in this regard. A fair inquiry should be held to find the reasons for his suicide.”

Read: I was scared, wanted Ravi transferred, says IAS officer’s father-in-law

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 room in a flat here on Monday evening, with the police saying it was a case of suicide prima facie.

The family also 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.

"My son wouldn't have committed suicide. He is not like that. He was strong hearted. My son was not a coward. I had not given birth to a son who could commit suicide," Gowramma, the mother of D K Ravi, whose death has sparked outrage and rattled the state administration, said.

Read: IAS officer DK Ravi: Fearless officer who took on the high and mighty

"He was a son of this country. I have a lost son of this country," an inconsolable Gowramma said, as the government came in the line of fire from the Opposition parties and others for the suicide theory given by police.

Ravi's father Kariyappa, Gowramma and Ramesh reached the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, and staged a dharna there demanding a CBI probe into Ravi's death.

"We only want a CBI probe. We want justice," Gowramma said, with the other two also echoing the same.

There should be an impartial inquiry into the incident, the IAS officer's father-in-law Hanumanthrayappa said. Asked whether Ravi had shared any threats he was facing,

Gowramma said, "He did not tell me what he was going through, I don't know about it, he doesn't share with me all this."

"He did not tell me anything as I don't understand all those things, they didn't give him time to tell me" an emotional Gowramma said, adding, "I'm still not able to understand what has happened, I don't know who pressurised my son, who did all this, but I want justice for my son."