IAS officer's death: Finally, a CBI probe recommended by Karnataka government
The move came shortly after Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Ravi's wife and assured her of a fair investigation into the death of the 36-year-old officer, which has created a huge controversy in the state.
The Karnataka government finally yielded to an all-round demand of a CBI inquiry into the death of IAS officer DK Ravi, who was found hanging at his Bangalore residence last week.
The move came shortly after Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Ravi's wife and assured her of a fair investigation into the death of the 36-year-old officer, which has created a huge controversy in the state.
The Karnataka High Court had on Sunday restrained the state government from publishing any interim report of the CID, which was investigating the case so far, into it. The court order came at a special hearing at the residence of Justice Abdul Nazeer, ahead of the announcement on Monday by the government of its stand on the issue of referring the case, now being probed by CID, to the CBI.
On Friday, Sonia had advised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order a CBI probe into the case that has stirred strong public sentiments, as Ravi had the image of being a gutsy officer who had taken on the sand and land mafia and tax evaders.
Facing increasing heat over the demand for a CBI probe into the mysterious death, Siddaramaiah had on Sunday asserted that the government was not protecting anybody and would make its stand known in the Assembly on Monday.
Sustaining the pressure on the government, the opposition BJP had on Sunday held a day-long dharna that was attended by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, Union Minister Ananth Kumar, state president Prahlad Joshi, opposition leader Jagdish Shettar and others.
People from different walks of life in the city also staged a separate protest demanding justice for Ravi that turned out be purely a public event with no political tag. Protests were also held by various organisations in Tumakuru, Ravi's native district, and Kolar, where he had become very popular as Deputy Commissioner, among other places.