Bengaluru: The late deputy superintendent of police, departmental enquiry (DE), Mangaluru, M.K. Ganapati, who committed suicide in Madikeri on Thursday after giving an interview to a local TV channel that he was being harassed by Bengaluru Urban Development (former home) Minister K.J. George, Additional Director General of Police A.M. Prasad and IGP (Lokayukta) Pronab Mohanty, was reportedly suffering from depression and had sought medical treatment from a reputed hospital in the city under a pseudonym, sources told this newspaper.
He was also reportedly under treatment in Mangaluru, where he was transferred recently. “Ganapati’s medical condition and treatment are now subject to inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing his unnatural death (UDR) case. He didn’t reveal his depression to any of his colleagues, who found him disturbed on occasions,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.
His family too said Ganapati was disturbed in the last few months because he felt he was being denied promotion and executive (field) postings. “He thought the he was being punished by Mr George because of his action during the 2008 Mangaluru church attacks. As an inspector in Ullal, he had handled the church attacks case well, but because of the lathi charge he was charged with police excesses. He was transferred to Bengaluru, where again he faced departmental inquiries, when he was inspector Yeshwanthpur, for killing a 20-year-old rowdy, Prashanth, in September 2010. In 2014, when he was inspector in Rajagopalnagar, he was suspended by then police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar on charges of corruption. He faced a similar inquiry when he was Madiwala inspector.
“He was cleared of all these charges much later, but they had adversely affected his mental health. He was promoted a couple of months ago to Mangaluru as DySP, DE,” the officer said.
