MK Ganapathy case: CBI names Karnataka minister KJ George, two police officers as accused in FIR

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday named Karnataka state minister for urban planning and development KJ George as an accused in an FIR filed in the case regarding the alleged suicide of Deputy Superintendent of Police MK Ganapathy, PTI reported. [caption id=“attachment_4178521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of KJ George. Twitter@KJGeorge[/caption] Former IGP (Lokayukta) Pranov Mohanty and ADGP (state intelligence) AM Prasad were also named in the CBI FIR. Prasad is now the Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety and Mohanty is currently on central deputation as Additional Deputy Director General of UIDAI. The Supreme Court had handed over the probe to the CBI in September. According to the rules, the agency has re-registered the FIR of the Karnataka Police alleging that prior to his death, Ganapathy had said that George, Mohanty and Prasad are responsible for his death. A Supreme Court bench, comprising justices AK Goel and UU Lalit, allowed the appeal of MK Kushalapp, father of the deceased police officer, filed against the order of the Karnataka High Court rejecting his plea for a CBI probe into the death case. “There are certain startling facts in the case. Whether it is murder or suicide, it is required to be investigated in a fair manner,” the bench said. It asked the CBI to file a status report on the probe before it within 3 months. It was claimed in the appeal that before his death, Ganapathy had accused Bengaluru city development minister George and senior police officers Prasad and Mohanty of harassing him. The bench considered the allegations and said under these circumstances, the probe should be carried out by an independent agency. The Karnataka Police in its FIR registered on the complaint of Ganapathy’s son had alleged that the deputy SP had said that the accused persons George, Mohanty and Prasad caused harassment to him and were responsible for his death. It was alleged in the complaint that three accused persons are influential persons in the society and have used their powers to cause no action by the police in this regard. Ganapathy was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a room at a lodge in Madikeri on 7 July, just hours after an interview to a local TV channel wherein he claimed that the minister and the two IPS officers were harassing him. He had claimed that the trio should be held responsible, if anything were to happen to him. Though Ganapathy was posted at the IGP office in Mangaluru on the west coast, he drove to Kodagu early morning on 7 July and checked into a lodge near the outstation bus stand and was seen going out in the afternoon in uniform. Ganapathy was transferred to Mangaluru as inspector general of police office in May. When local police went to ask Ganapathy about the television interview on the evening of same day, the hotel receptionist found him hanging in the room. He was in uniform and had his service revolver fastened to his belt. The court had issued directions based on a private criminal complaint by Ganapathy’s son, Nehal, requesting it to direct police to take up an investigation against the minister and the officers for allegedly abetting his father’s suicide. Ganapathy’s suicide sparked protests from the state’s opposition parties disrupting the Karnataka House proceedings, which ultimately led to the resignation of George as the home minister of Karnataka. However, after he got a clean chit, he was reinstated into the government. A 1991-batch officer of the state cadre, Ganapathy entered the police service under sports quota. He hailed from a hamlet at Siddhappur near Madikeri. He is survived by wife Pavana and two sons. With inputs from PTI