Karnataka minister KJ George resigns hours after court orders FIR against him

Karnataka minister KJ George resigned on Monday hours after a court in Madikeri ordered Karnataka Police to file an FIR against him in connection with the suicide of Deputy SP MK Ganapathy. BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa reacted to George’s resignation and said that the govnerment of Karnataka had not listened to the voice of the people. [caption id=“attachment_2900402” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] KJ George. Image courtesy: @thekjgeorge/Twitter[/caption] Yeddyurappa also said that George’s resignation was not enough and called for a free and fair CBI investigation into the Ganapathy suicide case, adding that he will continue agitating against the Karnataka government. The court order by Additional Judicial Magistrate First Class Annapurneshwari had come on a private criminal complaint filed by the deceased police officer’s son Nehal Ganapathy requesting the court to direct the Kodagu police to take up investigation against the minister and two officers for allegedly abetting his father’s suicide. Ganapathy’s wife Pavana and Nehal had approached the court, stating that the police had rejected a complaint lodged by them with the Kushalanagar police on 10 July against George and IPS officials AM Prasad and Pranab Mohanty. In his complaint, Nehal had said his father had made a “dying declaration” naming George and the two officers and their acts amounted to “abetting suicide”. Appealing to the court to take cognizance of the offence punishable under IPC section 306 read with Section 34, the complaint had also claimed the accused were highly placed and influential people who had prevailed upon police from taking action against them. Nehal’s counsel MT Nanaiah had said the investigating officers would have to question George and the two police officers and take a call on whether to arrest them depending on the probe. Reacting to the court’s directive in Bengaluru, Opposition BJP leader Jagadish Shettar had said the minister should resign immediately and the two IPS officers be suspended to pave the way for an impartial probe. Ganapathy, 52, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in a room at a lodge in Madikeri on 7 July, prior to which he gave an interview to a local TV channel, stating the minister and AM Prasad (IG-Intelligence) and Pranab Mohanty (IGP- Lokayukta) would be responsible “if anything happens to me”. (With inputs from PTI)