MK Ganapathy suicide: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah orders judicial probe

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday ordered a judicial probe to investigate the alleged suicide of deputy superintendent of police MK Ganapathy, reported CNN-News 18.

Siddaramaiah said the judicial commission would be headed by a retired High Court judge and the report would come out within six months.

He rejected the demand for a probe by CBI, being demanded by BJP which is gunning for the resignation of Minister for Urban Development K J George, named by the deceased police official along with two top police officers for his extreme step.

#FLASH Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah orders judicial probe in Deputy SP Ganapathy suicide case.

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2016

Judicial probe will be headed by a Retired HC judge and has to submit its report in 6 months.

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2016

According to NDTV,  on the evening of 7 July, the police had found Ganapathy hanging from the ceiling of a lodge in Karnataka’s Kodagu district, about 270 km from state capital Bengaluru. He was in uniform and had his service revolver fastened to his belt.

However, according to a report in The Hindu , Ganapathy did not display any suicidal tendencies; he only suffered from mild depression, the report had said.

Hours before he hanged himself, Ganapathy had given an interview  to a private news channel in which he held two Indian Police Service officers and a state minister responsible for harassing him_._

According to the report, Ganapathy named additional director general of police (intelligence) AM Prasad, Lokayukta inspector general of police Pronab Mohanty and Bengaluru development minister and former home minster KJ George, who hails from Kodagu district, as responsible for his harassment and for pressuring him in various criminal and corruption cases.

Though Ganapathy was posted at the IGP office in Mangaluru on the west coast, he drove to Kodagu early on Thursday morning and checked into a lodge near the outstation bus stand and was seen going out in the afternoon in uniform.

When local police went to the lodge to ask Ganapathy about the interview, its receptionist found him hanging in the room.

Rejecting the charges against him in the Assembly yesterday, George, Minister for Bengaluru Development, had said he was ready to face any punishment if an inquiry finds him guilty and was ready to resign if the Chief Minister asks for it.

The Minister had also claimed that he was being targeted for belonging to minority community.

Government had earlier announced a probe by CID into the incident, which came just three days after the body of another DySP of Chikkamagaluru sub-division Kallappa Handibag (35), accused of kidnapping a person for ransom, was found hanging in his father-in-law’s home at Murgod in Belagavi district.

Prior to that, Ballari district Kudligi DySp Anupama Shenoy had resigned her post over alleged interference by the then district in charge minister Parameshwar Naik, who was removed in the recent major ministry reshuffle.

This is the second such incident this week, coming just three days after Chikkamagaluru rural deputy superintendent of police, Kalappa Handibagh, 34, hanged himself at Belagavi, about 500 km from Bengaluru.

Ganapathy was transferred to Mangaluru as inspector general of police office in May. 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 Agencies