Harassment by seniors, not family issues, pushed DySP to suicide: CID

BENGALURU: In a major twist to DySP M.K. Ganapati’s suicide, the CID sleuths have reportedly observed that the DySP hanged himself because of harassment by his senior officers, and not because of family problems.

This could spell more trouble for the government as the probe report, which Deccan Chronicle has access to, is contrary to the statements made by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar on the floor of the House.

Sources in the CID said that the investigating team has submitted the details of the investigation to the top brass of the agency. “It is mentioned in the report that Mr Ganapati was upset with the harassment by senior officers and that the statements made by him in the video are true to some extent and need to be investigated. Also, the report stated that the differences between Mr Ganapati and his wife Pavana were not serious enough to drive him to suicide,” an official said.

The investigating team has also slammed the local police for not following the procedure while dealing with a suicide case. “The police did not open the door of the room, where he committed suicide, till 8 pm, though they had reached the spot much earlier. They started the procedure only after Mr Ganapati’s father, Mr Kushalappa, reached the lodge. They then proceeded on the verbal statement made by his father, who said his son would have taken the extreme step because of family problems. Without verifying, the police considered it as a complaint and did not even register an FIR. Only later did they take a statement from his wife Pavana. Shockingly, the local police also tried to twist some facts in the case," the official said.

The probe agency also found that Mr Ganapati had sent an SMS to his brother M.K. Thammaiah, also a DySP, in the afternoon that he was going to commit suicide. "But Mr Thammaiah saw the message only in the evening and then alerted the Madikeri police, who found out Mr Ganapathi's location by tracking his mobile phone. By then, some of the news TV channels had started airing Mr Ganapati's statements. Without knowing the allegations made by his son, Mr Kushalappa, who was in shock, made a verbal statement that family reasons could be the reason behind the suicide," the official said. It is learnt that the CID has sought necessary permission to register an FIR in the case.

Pavana writes to PM Modi
Mr Ganapati's wife Pavana told reporters in Madikeri that she has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking justice. “I have written the letter as I have no trust in the state government,” she said. Asked about the CID investigation pointing fingers at harassment by senior officers, she said that she was not aware of it and would still press for a CBI probe.

CID officer had booked friends of George's son
CID DySP Sridhar, who is the investigating officer in Mr. Ganapati's suicide case, was earlier working as an inspector at the High Grounds police station. He had booked cases against the friends of then Home Minister K.J. George's son Rana George, who had created a ruckus in the upscale Pebble pub in January 2014. He was transferred later. It was alleged then that Mr George had exerted pressure on senior officers to transfer him, as the officer had not obeyed orders not to register a case against his son's friends.

Ganapati-swamy conversation leaked
An audio clip that contains the conversation between DySP M.K. Ganapati and Chandrashekhar Swamy, an astrologer, was leaked on Friday. The conversation reportedly took place in September last year. In the tape, Mr Ganapati requests Chandrashekhar Swamy to help in his promotions. “All charges against me are cleared, but my promotion is withheld. I am worried whether Prasad (ADGP Intelligence) is behind this,” Mr Ganapati tells Swamy in the tape.