The News Minute| March 18, 2015| 1.33 pm IST
Deceased IAS officer DK Ravi’s family has alleged that he had faced threats when he had taken action against a realty firm with which a Congress MLA in Kolar is associated.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday morning at his Nagarbavi resident in Bengaluru, Ravi’s father-in-law, Hanumanthrayappa who is also a Congress leader, said that Ravi intervened against Confident Group when he was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Kolar district.
Confident Group is a realty firm with which Bangarpet MLA and Congress leader S N Narayanaswamy has links.
Ravi had ordered that 48 acres of government land in Hanchala village be cleared of alleged encroachment by the group, reportedly earning the wrath of Narayanaswamy.
Hanumanthrayappa told reporters that he had received death threats at the time.
Asked about rumours that he was exerting pressure on Ravi to compromise on his integrity at the behest of the Congress government, Hanumanthrayappa said “definitely not”.
He said that no MLA or minister had asked him to do any such thing. “(KJ) George did not know until after Ravi’s death that he was my son-in-law,” Hanumanthraya said of the state home minister.
He also asked the media and the government to refrain from spreading “false rumours” claiming that Ravi had committed suicide due to “family disputes” and “personal problems”.
“As far as I am concerned, there was no problem between them (the couple) and even within the family. Ravi is not the type of person to commit suicide. If at all he did commit suicide, there must have been a strong reason. He would have left a death note,” the Congress leader said, adding that the truth should come out through an investigation.
Hanumanthrayappa admitted that he had requested Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to transfer him out of Kolar, as he had been facing threats after having taken on powerful people for alleged irregularities.
Siddaramaiah had said in the Assembly on Tuesday that Ravi had been transferred out of Kolar for his own safety after Hanumanthrayappa had sought the transfer.
“When it happened, people asked me not to support the transfer, but I only wanted my daughter and son-in-law to have a good life,” he said.
Hanumanthrayappa said that he believed a CBI inquiry would be able to uncover the truth about his death.