As public anger mounted over the mysterious death of an upright IAS officer, his family has raised doubts over police's claim that he committed suicide and hinted that he was under "political pressure", insisting on a CBI probe.
"My son wouldn't have committed suicide. He is not like that. He was strong hearted. My son was not a coward. I had not given birth to a son who could commit suicide," Gowramma, the mother of D K Ravi, whose death has sparked outrage and rattled the state administration, said.
"He was a son of this country. I have a lost son of this country....," an inconsolable Gowramma said, as the government came in the line of fire from the Opposition parties and others for the suicide theory given by police.
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35-year-old Ravi, a popular bureaucrat for being honest and gutsy in taking on the sand and land mafia and tax evaders, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his room in a flat here on Monday evening, with the police saying it was a case of suicide prima facie.
Not buying the police version, the Opposition demanded a CBI probe, instead of CID inquiry as announced by the state government, to unravel the truth about the death of Ravi, Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Enforcement).
"My younger brother died because of political pressure," Ravi's brother Ramesh said as he broke down.
"I don't know whether we will get justice," he said alleging it was a murder.
Ravi's father Kariyappa, Gowramma and Ramesh reached the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, and staged a dharna there demanding a CBI probe into Ravi's death.
"We only want a CBI probe. We want justice," Gowramma said, with the other two also echoing the same.
There should be an impartial inquiry into the incident, the IAS officer's father-in-law Hanumanthrayappa said.
