Karnataka Govt faces heat over DySP suicide; Opposition demands CBI inquiry

BENGALURU: With pressure mounting from within the cabinet and party over the hugely embarrassing suicide of deputy superintendent of police M K Ganapati - the second in as many days - minister for Bengaluru development K J George on Friday pleaded innocence about his involvement saying the police officer met him on only one occasion to get his suspension revoked, even as the dead policeman's younger brother - also a policeman - said Ganapati was suffering from depression and was having "hallucinations."

Mr George's clarification came during a meeting of the cabinet when many ministers expressed apprehension about the negative fallout of the police officer's suicide and his interviews to the electronic media hours before taking the extreme step in a hotel in Madikeri.

The ministers were apprehensive about an onslaught by the combined Opposition during the ongoing legislature session as well as the adverse impact on the image of the government in the wake of two police officers ending their lives within a short span of time, close on the heels of senior women administrative service officers accusing corrupt government cronies of bullying and abuse.

Mr George dismissed allegations of harassment of the police officer and reiterated that Mr Ganapati met him only for revocation of the suspension order. On his part, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah advised his cabinet colleagues to await the outcome of a probe by officers of CID, official sources told Deccan Chronicle.

DySP M.K. Ganapati’s suicide has put former Home Minister and two senior IPS officers on the spot. But the statement made by his brother, M.K. Thammaiah, also a DySP, may save the day for the embattled Bengaluru Development Minister.

Speaking to reporters, Thammaiah said that his elder brother was being treated for clinical depression, and may have been “delusional”. The dead cop's younger brother said that his brother's behaviour had changed completely in the last six months. “It felt like he was living in a world of illusion, that he was hallucinating,” Thammaiah, DySP, Ramanagara said.

Cop felt wronged over Kulashekar charge
Officers said DySP M.K. Ganapati — upset over his transfer after the 2008 Church attack in Mangaluru — showed no inclination towards any caste or religion but demonstrated his skill while rounding up miscreants who attacked the car of superintendent of police, Satish Kumar, outside the church in Kulashekar, in Mangaluru, a day after several churches in the port city were vandalized by activists of Bajrang Dal in September 2008.

When the miscreants tried to escape by mixing with the congregation, Mr Ganapati nabbed the vandals. Deeply upset over being implicated later in a fake encounter and a robbery case which damaged his reputation and led to an inquiry and his suspension, he suffered persistent memory loss and couldn’t recognize his colleagues. He had sought medical treatment from a reputed hospital in the city under a false name.

Named, shamed, not charged!
Even as serious questions are being raised about why Madikeri police didn't register a case under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the Cabinet minister and senior IPS officers in the suicide case of M.K. Ganapati, deputy superintendent of police, departmental enquiry, Mangaluru though he had named them in an interview with a local television just hours before he ended his life, legal experts told this newspaper that before the police register a case of unnatural death report (UDR) under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) the blood relatives of the deceased should mention in Column 9 of the report that they suspect foul play and abetment to their kin's suicide. " Ganapati's family had not done so.