The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday, December 22, arrested three persons, including a serving police officer, in connection with its probe into the suspicious death of Bengaluru-based realtor K Raghunath and related allegations of forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
Those arrested are DA Srinivas and DA Kalpaja, children of former Chittoor MP and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman DK Audikesavulu Naidu, and SY Mohan, a Deputy Superintendent of Police currently posted at the State Human Rights Commission in Bengaluru. All three were produced before a jurisdictional court and remanded to judicial custody until December 29.
The arrests follow cases registered by the CBI on the directions of the Karnataka High Court, which transferred the investigation from the Bengaluru police to the central agency after finding serious lapses in the earlier probe. The High Court’s order was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.
According to the CBI, the cases relate to Raghunath’s death in May 2019 and subsequent allegations involving the fabrication of documents, misuse of government seals and stamps, preparation of false records and deliberate destruction of evidence. A CBI spokesperson said the cases were registered in compliance with the High Court’s directions in matters that had earlier been investigated by the state police.
Raghunath, who was closely associated with Audikesavulu Naidu, was found dead under suspicious circumstances at a guesthouse in Whitefield, Bengaluru. The property where his body was discovered is owned by Srinivas. Raghunath reportedly held several immovable properties in Bengaluru and surrounding areas and was said to be in possession of assets linked to Audikesavulu after the latter’s death in 2013. Audikesavulu was the founder of Vydehi Superspeciality Hospital and owned multiple commercial properties in the city.
Investigators are examining allegations that Srinivas and others pressured Raghunath to transfer certain properties, claiming they had been acquired using Audikesavulu’s funds. These claims are yet to be established and are being verified as part of the ongoing investigation. It has also been alleged that some properties belonging to Audikesavulu were registered in Raghunath’s name.
The case originated from an unnatural death report registered on a complaint by Raghunath’s son. In February 2020, Raghunath’s wife Manjula filed a separate complaint alleging that her husband had been murdered over a property dispute. She later approached the Karnataka High Court along with her son Rohith, alleging that the accused had influenced the police, forged Raghunath’s will and suppressed the post-mortem report.
Following multiple FIRs registered by the HAL police, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted. However, the High Court rejected the SIT’s findings, observing that the investigation had not been conducted properly, and ordered a CBI probe into the matter. This decision was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
In her petition, Manjula also alleged that Srinivas and Kalpaja suspected Raghunath of being behind an Income Tax raid conducted at their premises in 2016, during which cash and assets worth several crores were seized, and that he was subsequently threatened and pressured to transfer properties claimed to have been left to him by Audikesavulu.