A day after he took his own life, MS Ramesh, the personal assistant of former Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, was cremated on Sunday at his native village in Melehalli in Ramanagaram district. Hundreds of people from nearby villages, Bengaluru and Tumakuru attended the cremation, which also saw many decrying the Income Tax department officials.
Ramesh took his life on Saturday, days after the I-T department conducted searches on the properties, including medical colleges, linked to Parameshwara.
Meanwhile, Satish MS, the brother of Ramesh, filed a police complaint, claiming his brother was harassed by I-T officials.
“The I-T department has suddenly slowed down searches after his death and are trying to mislead people by saying that it did not grill Ramesh. There is evidence, including CCTV footage and eyewitnesses, to prove that the officials harassed the victim,” a relative said, as per The Hindu
Those who gathered for the cremation, including A Manjunath, Magadi MLA and other relatives and residents of the village, held the I-T department responsible for Ramesh's death. They also chanted slogans against the BJP party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Congress, meanwhile, in a tweet, said that Ramesh has become the “second victim” of the I-T harassment after the death of Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha.
“We have already questioned some individuals with regard to Ramesh’s suicide and will question some more on Monday,” the police officials investigating the case told the Times of India.
Ramesh was 40 years old and had been working with Parameshwara after initially starting out as a typist in the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). On Wednesday, when Parameshwara's residence was searched, Ramesh was present along with him.
Searches were also conducted on the medical college owned by senior Congress leader RL Jalappa, and the residence of his son Rajendra and nephew GH Nagaraj in Chikkaballapura.
An official release by the Income Tax Department stated, “Incriminating evidence has been found in the search, substantiating conversion of seats, commission payments to brokers and sale of seats in exchange for receipt of cash. A total of Rs 4.22 crore of unaccounted cash has so far been found, including Rs 89 lakh in the house of the main trustee.”