Bengaluru: Suspecting foul play in the death of 29-year-old pianist Karan Joseph, who on September 9 allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the 12th floor of an apartment in Bandra's Bullock Road in Mumbai, his parents have claimed that Karan did not commit suicide but was murdered.
Demanding a fair probe into his son's death, Karan's father Dr Thomas Joseph, a Bengaluru based paediatrician, stated in an eight page letter that despite his written complaint to the investigation officer to consider it as a case of murder, the officer did not register the case under IPC 302.
Karan allegedly jumped off the flat belonging to Rishi Shah - an Indian-American publisher and media entrepreneur, who desperately wanted Karan to sign an exclusive contract with him which Karan rejected. Dr Thomas pointed out that his son had been living in Mumbai since March 2013 in a rented apartment off Dr Ambedkar Road in Khar and asked why he would choose Rishi's place to commit suicide.
"Rishi desperately wanted Karan to join him and sign an exclusive business contract with him for RAVE magazine. This would have alienated Karan from his regular band and other artistes. Rishi contacted and requested us to come to Mumbai to discuss the contract. This is the only reason why my wife and I went to Mumbai. On meeting us in August 17, he made tall promises and we blindly believed him, assuming he had Karan's best interests at heart," Dr Thomas said.
"Rishi enticed Karan with the offer to buy him one of the world's most expensive keyboards - The Prophet - which Karan rejected. I need to know why Karan was living in Rishi's flat, considering the fact he had his own," Dr Thomas asked. He suspected Rishi's hand in his son's death.
Dr Thomas also mentioned in the letter about the threat messages that Vidhi Shah, Rishi's business associate, sent to Tina Joseph, Dr Thomas's wife on September 11. On the first message, he had said, “The situation is getting out of hand i and they required help” followed by another threatening message of "dire consequences if help did not come”.
