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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is not empowered to disclose or make any public statement on the "unnatural death" of IAS officer D K Ravi as the probe was on and incomplete, the petitioner in the case submitted before the Karnataka High Court on Thursday.
Filing counter-objections to the state government's plea, the petitioner, Sudhir Reddy, husband of an IAS officer who was a batchmate of Ravi, said, "When the investigation itself is not complete, the respondents or the Chief Minister can hardly claim to be aware of the truth and they are not empowered to disclose any information when the intent is to make the same public." "It is well settled, half truth is equivalent to untruth or falsehood," he submitted before Justice Abdul Nazeer here.
The High Court, on March 24, had directed Reddy to file counter-objections to the government's plea. The government had filed objections to the petition filed by Reddy seeking restrictions of publication of any interim report or making any public statement pertaining to investigation being conducted by the government through CID.
The government is seeking vacation of restraint on publishing or making public the interim report pertaining to the investigation carried out by CID into the death of 35-year-old Ravi who was found hanging inside his apartment here on March 16.
The High Court, in a special hearing at the residence of Justice Nazeer on March 22, restrained the government from publishing any interim report, ahead of Siddaramaiah making an announcement in the Assembly. On Monday last, Siddaramaiah announced a CBI probe bowing to mounting public pressure and demand from Ravi's family who suspected foulplay in the death of the IAS officer.
As soon as the proceedings began, Reddy's counsel submitted the counter-objections, and the respondents sought time for studying the same. Justice Abdul Nazeer posted the matter for April 6.
