File photo: DK Ravikumar's mother (centre) protesting at the Vidhan Soudha demanding CBI probe into his death. (Press Trust of India)
The Karnataka government, which has so far resolutely rejected the widespread demand for an investigation by the CBI into the death of 36-year-old IAS officer DK Ravi, is now set to announce one, possibly on Monday in the state assembly, sources have said.
The change of heart was brought about not by the tidal wave of protests in the state, but "advice" from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of her party to hand over investigation to the central agency.
"The Congress President has advised the Karnataka Chief Minister to hand over the inquiry into IAS officer D K Ravi's death to the CBI," Congress leader in charge of Karnataka, Digvijaya Singh, told NDTV.
Sources say the message was conveyed by the Congress president very strongly and they are surprised why the probe has still not been ordered.
Earlier in the day, Mr Siddaramaiah had met the state's Governor Vajubhai Val and said, "The Governor has heard what we have explained to him; we have told him the investigation is going on and the investigation has been handed over to CID."
The chief minister has so far been emphatic that the CID or state's Criminal Investigation Department is well-equipped to handle the case; he had refused to budge even when union home minster Rajnath Singh reportedly suggested to him that he recommend a CBI investigation.
The demand for an inquiry by the central agency has been made not just by opposition parties and protesters who poured onto the streets after the death of the popular young bureacrat, but also his family.
At the Freedom Park in Bengaluru today, his mother Gowramma, mourned her son as she demanded a CBI investigation. "My son was a tiger of Durga, not a person to commit suicide. That son was born for the country, born for the world. He was a tiger of the country, a tiger of Karnataka, a tiger of Kolar."
Janata Dal Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy, who was present at the Freedom Park protest, alleged that the chief minister wanted the CID to investigate the case because, "how this inquiry has to be conducted and what final decision has to be taken by the CID to give that report, entire thing is controlled by the chief minister himself."