JD(S) Leader Kumaraswamy, BJP Leader Eshwarappa and opposition leader Jagadish Shettar met parents of IAS Officer DK Ravi at Vidhan Soudha. (Press Trust of India)
The parents of IAS officer DK Ravi have demanded that investigation into his death be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI. They were sitting in protest at the Karnataka state Assembly a day after they performed the last rites for their 36-year-old younger son. (Also read: IAS Officers Petition Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Demand CBI Probe in DK Ravi's Death)
"I want justice, I want justice, I want justice," said a distraught Gowramma, the young bureaucrat's mother. "My son is not the kind to be scared of anything, he is a brave man," she said, rejecting the police's premise that he committed suicide.
"Government should give us justice, otherwise we will commit suicide at the premises of the vidhan soudha," she said, brushing aside speculation about family trouble when she said, "there were no fights, we lived in harmony."
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah later met the family outside the Assembly and assured them of justice.
Mr Ravi was found hanging from a ceiling fan by his wife's sari on Monday at his Bengaluru apartment. The police has said it's "prima facie a case of suicide" and the Karnataka government has rejected the demand for a CBI investigation, arguing that an inquiry by the state's Central Investigation Department or CID is sufficient.
Mr Ravi's father-in-law Hanumantharayappa, at whose residence the officer had spent the weekend, alleged that he had told him he was "being targeted" by a particular group. He described his son-in-law as "a strong and fearless man, not feeble-minded," and said he was "not someone to commit suicide. If he did commit suicide there should a compelling reason."
DK Ravi had taken on the sand mafia during his tenure as district collector in Kolar and was reportedly still getting threats. Last year, he was deputed to the Commercial Tax department. He was investigating real estate majors and big jewellers for alleged tax evasion and had conducted several big raids .
Massive protests erupted in Bengaluru and Kolar on Monday as the news of Mr Ravi's death spread. Opposition parties the BJP and the Janata Dal Secular staged an all night
dharna in the Assembly and central minister and BJP leader Sadananda Gowda has said he will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to demand a CBI investigation.