BJP members disrupt Assembly proceedings seeking George's

The Opposition BJP today disrupted assembly proceedings and demanded the resignation of Minister K J George, who has been booked by the CBI in a case relating to the death of a police official.

BJP members entered the well of the House, citing media reports about a government doctor having reportedly admitted before the CBI that the post-mortem of DySP M K Ganapathy was conducted as per government directions.

According to reports, the doctor claimed he had been "pressurised" to treat the case as a suicide.

BJP also targeted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, holding him also responsible.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ganapathy (51) was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a room at a lodge in Madikeri on July 7 last year, with the mystery surrounding it raising a huge controversy.
 

Prior to the alleged suicide, he had told a local TV channel in an interview that the then Home Minister George and two senior police officers A M Prasad and Pranab Mohanty would be responsible "if anything happens to me".

The Karnataka CID, which investigated the case after the death of Ganapathy, had given a clean chit to George and the two officers in the closure report filed before a court.

George resigned soon after a court directed police to register an FIR against him and the two police officers.

After his name was cleared by CID, he was re-inducted into the Cabinet. But the Supreme Court in September ordered a CBI probe into the case and asked the agency to file a status report on the probe within three months.

As the House met for the day after lunch, the leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar raised the issue, citing media reports about alleged pressure on the doctor.

"He (George) has to resign.... reports say that there was pressure from the government. The Chief Minister is also responsible, he also has to resign," Shettar said.

Responding to this, Home minister Ramalinga Reddy said "we cannot respond to speculations. Let the CBI investigate."

Several Congress MLAs supporting Reddy charged the BJP with not having an interest in running the Houses.

As noisy scenes prevailed after BJP members entered the well, Speaker K B Koliwad adjourned the proceedings briefly.

When the House resumed,BJP members continued the protest, but withdrew it after the Speaker convinced the Leader of the Opposition, saying he would allow a discussion on the issue later.