DK Ravi’s death: Online group holds protest march

Bengaluru: “If Nirbhaya is India’s daughter, D.K. Ravi is India’s son. We want justice,” was one of the slogans raised by protesters during a rally on Sunday morning, in which nearly 4,000 people part, demanding CBI investigation into the mysterious death of 35-year-old IAS officer D.K. Ravi.

The rally began from City Railway station around 10 am and protestors wore black t-shirts as a sign of protest. They carried banners and shouted slogans against state government demanding CBI inquiry. The rally culminated at the Freedom Park.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The protesters also shouted slogans against alleged ‘character assassination’ of Ravi. The march was led by the volunteers of Public Movement Initiative (PMI), an online group, which garnered the support of over 6 lakh people in just three days after it was created. Protesters from Ballari, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Mysuru took part in the march.

Chandrashekhar, a PMI volunteer and an IT professional told this newspaper, “Why the state government is still sitting on post-mortem report and the state chief minister not handing over the probe to CBI? What he is sacred of? Instead of ensuring that justice is done, the government is maligning the name of an honest officer. We demand an immediate CBI inquiry into the matter.” A large crowd gathered at Freedom Park to show their solidarity for the IAS officer. Mohan, a 21-year-old student, was agitated by the manner in which the probe has been conducted. Srivatsa, 30, a businessman, felt only a proper investigation can reveal whether it was a case of murder or suicide. “What the government will get by defaming him? It is a cheap tactic they have resorted to. There is no point in defaming him. We should wait for the investigation to take its course and let us not fall for the theories doing rounds,” he added.

The protesters said their next course of action will depend on how the government handles the case. “If the Karnataka Chief Minister doesn’t hand over the case to CBI on Monday, we will take out the march from Tumakuru to Bengaluru,” the protesters warned.