DK Ravi's kin inconsolable

Bengaluru: The mother of late IAS officer D.K. Ravi, Gowramma, has alleged that Ravi’s wife Kusuma and father-in-law Hanumanthrayappa know the reason for her son’s death.

Gowramma, who is protesting in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue at Anand Rao Circle along with other family members and supporters since Wednesday, said that her family members were not happy with Ravi marrying Kusuma. “When Ravi came and told us that he has plans to marry Kusuma, we all opposed. But he was determined to marry her. Not willing to hurt him, we all agreed. After his death, neither his wife nor his father-in-law have not spoken to us even once in the last one year.”

“It was Hanumantharayappa who took my son to his house and he stayed with them. He should tell us the reason for my son’s death. We know that they both know the reasons that led to Ravi’s death. But they are acting as if they know nothing. If the investigating agencies had questioned them thoroughly, the truth would have come out,” she alleged.

Further, she said that whoever responsible for her son’s death should be put behind bars and said they will not withdraw the protest until they get the CBI investigation report. Reacting to her allegations, Hanumatharayappa, however, said that he had no idea on what she was talking about.

On Thursday, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar and BJP leader R. Ashok met the Ravi’s family members and promised them that they would take up the issue in Assembly.

“State government should make efforts to get the investigating report from the CBI immediately. The government should protect the family of the deceased honest officer. The mother had to pledge her jewels to observe the death anniversary of her son and it speaks volumes about the failure of the government. The family members are holding peaceful dharna and no efforts should be made to disrupt it. We will take up the matter with the central home minister and apprise him that giving the CBI report to the family members would clear their doubts about Ravi’s death,” Mr Shettar said.

Ravi committed suicide: CBI
Even as the grieving parents of the late Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer D.K. Ravi are demanding a second autopsy and justice for their late son, sources told this newspaper that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reportedly concluded that there was no foul play and that the officer had committed suicide because of multiple reasons.

“If the CBI had suspected any foul play they would have registered an FIR and sought court permission to exhume the body for second autopsy. The probe has looked into every aspect and the report is now awaiting the signatures of the supervising officer and the Director, CBI. It will be submitted before the sub divisional magistrate,” the officer  said. The CBI), which is at the receiving end for dragging its feet in the nearly one-year-long investigation in the unnatural death of Ravi is grossly “short staffed; lacks adequate resources and infrastructure” to investigate hundreds of “difficult” cases, which land at its doorstep from across the country.

“The CBI is investigating several sensitive and extremely difficult cases, which other law enforcement agencies don’t wish to do with limited manpower and resources. Every state demands and expects that their case should be investigated on priority. Every case is of equal importance to the CBI. The agency cannot be given a deadline,” said an official source. Ravi was found hanging in his flat official residence in Prestige St Johns Wood apartment on Tavarekere Main Road in Madiwala police station limits on March 16, 2015. The police had registered a case of unnatural death under UDR No. 47/2015 under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in Madiwala police station for the police to enquire and report on the suicide. The case was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on March 18 before it was handed over the CBI on March 24.

A team of CBI officials from Delhi investigated the case and looked into all possible angles including the circumstances that may have led to the officer to take the extreme step. They had questioned Ravi’s family members, his colleagues in the Commercial Tax Department in Bengaluru, where he was last posted and former colleagues in Kolar, his driver and gunman and the forensic experts of Victoria Hospital, who had conducted the post mortem. They had sent the the material and forensic evidence in the case to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, New Delhi for an in-depth and final forensic analysis to rule out foul play or tampering of evidence in the high profile case.