Dhanya Rajendran| The News Minute| March 20, 2015| 6.50 pm IST
(Comment)
For the last few days only one news event has dominated headlines in Karnataka and even across most English news channels- the untimely death of young IAS officer DK Ravi.
As news of his death first trickled in, many journalists were unaware of the existence of an officer named Ravi, but quick calls to bureaucrats and others established that he had the reputation of being honest and upright.
But few days later, Ravi’s mysterious death has turned out to be a classic case of mismanagement by the Bengaluru police and Karnataka government.
The case has been botched up to such an extent that probe by any agency under the state government has become unacceptable to many.
The first mistake occurred on day one with the Bengaluru police commissioner’s hurried statement that Ravi’s death prima facie looked like a suicide. The urgency behind this statement raised doubts that the state government was too eager to close the file.
Later, in an apparent attempt to reinforce the suicide theory, a senior police officer informed journalists off the record that the police commissioner was confident about the suicide angle. A woman IAS officer had informed police about phone calls and a message from DK Ravi allegedly threatening to commit suicide, the officer said.
On Friday, many newspapers reported that Ravi had made 44 phone calls to this woman IAS officer on the day of his death and also sent her a text message. This information is yet to be confirmed as no evidence has emerged yet.
While this information is yet to be confirmed and even if the said phone calls and the message were sent, and there was indeed a personal angle to his death, people clearly are in no mood to buy this theory of an extra-marital affair leading to his demise.
The Karnataka government and Bengaluru police have lost the battle of perception much earlier.
The public outcry on the death of an honest and upright officer has overwhelmed any personal angle that might have existed..
Key points to consider
1. If the woman IAS officer had confessed about the issues she had with Ravi on Monday night, why did the government not reveal it upfront? Why were the details regarding the lady officer restricted to off-record briefings?
2. On Tuesday a section of police and Congress politicians spread various canards some of which include: ‘Ravi is impotent’, ‘Ravi had a weakness for women’, ‘Land mafia had a sex CD involving Ravi in its possession and were threatening him’
3. Why did the police and politicians have to indulge in a slander campaign instead of merely sticking to facts about the lady officer’s statement?
4. What about the BJP and JDS’ allegations that the call records also show calls from builders and even a minister of the Karnataka government?
The government’s stand has been further contradicted by other versions, leaving many including journalists confused.
A senior IAS officer has told media persons that Ravi’s interest in the woman IAS officer was common knowledge in bureaucratic circles, and the same could have been used by someone to threaten and implicate him.
A well known activist Gauri Lankesh wrote on Facebook about the phone calls and concluded,
“I admire Ravi for his pro-people stance. But he was a human being like all of us with his little failings - just like all of us have our little drawbacks. We should remember that he was a human being like all of us. with his strengths and weaknesses.”
Even if one assumes that the conspiracy theories of the land mafia’s involvement are all false and the truth is as Lankesh has described, the waters have been muddied so badly thanks to shoddy management, that few are willing to believe it.
To top it all is the Karnataka government’s resistance to handover the probe to the CBI. Whatever the reasons behind Ravi’s death, the fact that he was investigating some powerful names with clear political patronage cannot be ignored.
Is the Karnataka government apprehensive that the CBI may stumble upon other evidence on serious tax evasions? Is this preventing the state government from allowing the CBI to take over this case?
Congress leaders now say that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will hand over the probe to the CBI, after placing the CID’s investigation report before the State Legislative Assembly. But have things gone too far to redeem the lost trust?
Read- DK Ravi, Mahantesh: Govt officers, murky deaths and disturbing patterns