IAS officer who took on sand mafia found dead in Bengaluru, police suspect suicide

Bengaluru: IAS officer DK Ravi, posted as Karnataka’s additional commissioner, commercial tax, was found dead in his official apartment on Monday evening, police said, adding it seemed a case of suicide. “Prime facie it appears to be a case of suicide, as Ravi’s body was found hanging from a ceiling fan,” Police Commissioner MN Reddi told reporters in Bengaluru. [caption id=“attachment_2156989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The 36-year-old Ravi, of the 2009 batch, was joint commissioner in the commercial tax department since November 2014 following his transfer from Kolar where he was deputy commissioner. “Though we learnt about death late in the evening from his family members, Ravi could have committed suicide anytime after 11 am, as he did not respond to calls since then. He was alone at home at that time,” Reddi said. He said a three-member special investigation team headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) Rohini Katoch has been set up to investigate the case. When Ravi’s wife learnt that he did not go to office till lunch time and was not taking calls since noon, two-three department officials went to the apartment late afternoon to check if he was at home. “As there was no response from inside, the flat was opened with a duplicate key his wife had,” Reddi said. The officials and Ravi’s wife were shocked to see him hanging with a piece of cloth tied to the fan. Ruling out foul play from the circumstances under which Ravi’s body was found, Reddi said a forensic science team had visited the spot and conducted preliminary investigation for clues. “Rohini and Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar visited the apartment for studying the scene of incident. The special team will investigate the nature and time of Ravi’s death though we have no doubt at this point of time this is a case of suicide,” Reddi reiterated. No suicide note was however found. Police will check Ravi’s mobile records, entries in the reception office of the apartment, which is in a gated community and footage of the CCTV cameras in the vicinity to find out who all visited the place in the day earlier or recently. State Home Minister KJ George, Energy Minister DK Shiv Kumar and ruling Congress lawmaker from Kolar district KR Ramesh Kumar and a dozen senior tax officials rushed to Ravi’s apartment for a firsthand account of his untimely death. IANS