2009 batch IAS officer D K Ravi was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his Bengaluru residence on Monday evening. The 36 years old IAS officer was posted as a Deputy Commissioner in Kolar. Ravi was well known in Kolar district for exposing land sand mafia, and he was hailed as a hero by people in Kolar for several stand-offs with local politicians.
It was reported that due to differences in Kolar, Ravi was transferred to Bangalore on 29 October 2014. In his tenure in the commercial taxes department, Ravi had collected more than Rs 100 crore in outstanding tax dues from the builders and had forced several top builders and jewelers in Bangalore to pay up dues.
Police Commissioner MN Reddi has told reporters that “Prima facie it appears to be a case of suicide.” However, it is also reported that no suicide note was found. Though Ravi had reportedly told his colleagues about threats from miscreants, he neither filed a police complaint nor sought protection.
It would be unfair to conclude whether it is a case of suicide or planned murder, but given the historical backgrounds and reputation of Ravi, we can’t deny a conspiracy here.
Sadly, this is not the first case in which an honest officer was first threatened and then he was found dead. It should not appall us if Ravi’s death, after political mudslinging, is forgotten in political corridors. In 2003, an IES officer Satyendra Dubey was shot in Bihar. The news ignited tremendous public outrage for some time, it was raised in Parliament, CBI was involved, but the big fishes managed to escape. In 2005, an IOCL officer Shanmugam Manjunath was murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in UP. The suspects in his murdered are convicted by the courts, but the condition in UP is not a secret to us.
The list of officers whose voices against corruption were crushed may never end, but we must try our best to show our disgust.
