Bengaluru: While other opposition leaders are demanding Bengaluru Development Minister, K.J. George's resignation, state Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former chief minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy was more kind to him on Friday, saying he did not need not to quit as yet as the CBI had still not completed its investigation into the suicide of Deputy Superintendent of Police, M K Ganapathi.
He, however, added that Mr George should be ready to step down if the investigative agency found fresh evidence to hold him guilty in the case. Mr Kumaraswamy, who was speaking to reporters here, also maintained that neither the state nor Union government could be held responsible for the CBI probe into the police officer's suicide as his family had moved the Supreme Court seeking a fresh investigation into the case following complaints of evidence being destroyed.
Noting that there was talk of evidence left behind by Mr Ganapathi being destroyed by the CID to give a clean chit to Mr George, who is the accused No. 1 in the chargesheet filed by the central investigative agency, he demanded an impartial inquiry into the police officer's death.
" If this allegation is true, how will it be possible for the CBI to establish who was responsible for Mr Ganapathi's suicide? The inquiry must be held impartially and without any sense of vengeance to ensure that the truth comes out," the former chief minister stressed. Mr Kumaraswamy also claimed it had become common of late for the state government to file FIRs and use them as tools against opposition leaders.
"For instance, the state government asked the Special Investigative Team(SIT) to file a petition for a fresh probe into the multi-crore Jantakal mining case in which I was named as an accused. This was nothing but a political decision to rein in opposition parties," he contended.
