BENGALURU: Protesters, including those from the Aam Aadmi Party, hit the streets in Karnataka's Bengaluru and Kolar today demanding that the death of 36-year-old IAS officer DK Ravikumar be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI.
The young bureaucrat, who took on the sand mafia in the state, was found dead at his apartment in Bengaluru on Monday. His wife returned home to find him hanging from a ceiling fan. He will be cremated today.
The police have said they suspect suicide, though they found no note. Bangalore's Police Commissioner MN Reddi said today, "Inquest and post-mortem will be completed very soon... prima-facie it is a case of suicide."
Karnataka's Chief Minister Siddharamiah too said, "Prime facie, it is suicide. Enquiry and investigation is on. We do not know the exact cause." The chief minister said Mr Ravikumar was "an honest officer" who he knew well and promised a fair investigation.
But former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) said friends and colleagues of Mr Ravikumar - a 2009 batch IAS officer on deputation with the Commercial Tax department - say he was a strong-willed man and not the kind to commit suicide.
Mr Kumaraswamy pointed out that over the last one month, Mr Ravikumar had taken some hard decisions against big builders. There were also reports that the officer continued to get threats from the sand mafia, which he had taken on in his previous assignment as the District Commissioner of Kolar district.
Mr Ravikumar was popular in Kolar and there were protests there too today.
A volunteer of the Aam Aadmi Party, which has demanded a CBI inquiry into Mr Ravikumar's death, said while protesting in Bengaluru, "The system has killed him, we are protesting against that corrupt system."
The Bangalore police, which has set up a three-member team to investigate the case, says when Mr Ravi's wife returned home, the door was locked from inside and had to be opened with a duplicate key. Also, the police said, there were no visitors at the upmarket apartment complex and his driver was waiting for him downstairs.
The police have said they will examine CCTV footage from the apartment complex and analyse Mr Ravi's mobile records.
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