CID to probe Karnataka DSP ‘suicide’

The Karnataka government today handed over to the CID the investigation into alleged suicide of Mangaluru deputy SP M.K. Ganapati which has triggered a storm with the police official in his pre-death declaration accusing a senior minister and two top officials of harassing him.

Facing Opposition heat with two senior police officials allegedly committing suicide within a week, chief minister Siddaramaiah announced the CID probe and warned of action against the seniors accused of harassing Ganapati.

“We have handed over this case to the CID. After the CID submits its investigation report, we will take appropriate action,” Mr Siddaramaiah said here, as the BJP demanded resignation of minister for Bengaluru development K.J. George, who earlier held the home portfolio, and was named by Ganapati.

Mr George, however, denied any connection with the police officer, whose body was yesterday found hanging from the ceiling fan in a room at a lodge in Madikeri.

Three days ago, the body of deputy SP of Chikkamagaluru sub-division Kallappa Handibag (35), accused of kidnapping a person for ransom, was also found hanging in his father-in-law’s home at Murgod in Belagavi district.

Hours before taking the extreme step, in an interview to a local news channel in Madikeri, Ganapati had said, “I am disappointed with transfers happening in police department, which is done on caste consideration. Top officials should not do this. It’s not good. It is wrong. Therefore, I am coming out openly before the media,” he had said.

Ganapati had also said, “If anything happens to me hereafter, they are responsible. Who (police officials) A.M. Prasad (IG-Intelligence) and Pranab Mohanty (IGP-Lokayukta), and also former home minister George...”

Demanding a CBI inquiry into the incident, BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa said in New Delhi that Mr George should be dropped as minister immediately.

Mr Siddaramaiah dismissed the BJP demand, saying it has no moral right to do so.

Coming in the line of Opposition fire over Ganapati’s charge against him, Mr George said, “I have no connection with him. I have no personal issue with him. I never harassed him.”

Even in the TV interview he only mentioned in the last K.J. George home minister.”

On TV, he claimed harassment Even as serious questions are being raised about why Madikeri police didn’t register a case under Section 306 (abetment of 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 inquiry, 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.

“They have to fill up Column 9 for the police to register a suicide case under Section 306 of the IPC,” an official source said.

In the case of deputy SP of Chikkamagaluru subdivision — Kallappa Handibag (35), who had committed suicide early this week in Murgod town in Savadatti taluk in Belgavi district after he was suspended on charges of kidnapping a man for Rs 10 lakh ransom, the police have registered a case under Section 306 IPC for abetment after his family cried foul play and filled up the Column 9,” said an official source.

‘Brother’s allegations imaginary’ Deputy SP M.K. Ganapati’s suicide may have put former home minister and two senior IPS officers in trouble, but the statement made by his brother M.K. Thammaiah, also a deputy SP, has raised doubts on the allegations made by Ganapati.

Thammaiah told reporters that his elder brother was suffering from depression and undergoing treatment for the same.

“Certain pressures are inevitable in the police department. The allegations levelled by my brother look like his imagination. He felt that he would be attacked by someone and we had to console him. For the last one year, his behaviour had changed and we identified that he had some psychological issues around six months ago. It felt like he was living in a world of illusion and he hallucinated,” Thammaiah said, adding that his brother was also availing treatment for the last six months. However, his wife Pavana has claimed that her husband’s allegations were true.

Meanwhile, police sources said Ganapathi’s track record was not as good as he claimed in the interview he gave to a regional TV channel, before he took the extreme step.

An official who knew Ganapati closely said, “He was not such a clean hand like he has claimed in the interview. In fact, senior officers knew he was very corrupt and thus he was treated badly. Some of them also harassed him to get their share in the dealings he did. Besides, he had a bad reputation while working in Mangaluru as he was seen as communal and did favours for right wing groups,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Even on the personal front, Ganapati was reportedly not a happy person. “There were some misunderstanding between the couple and they did not live together when he was working in the city. Also, he could not bear the fact that his younger brother Thammaiah was promoted to the rank of deputy SP before him, though he was senior to him. He did not share very good relationship with his family members,” the official added.