CID may consider Ravi's last SMS as suicide note

 The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating the death of IAS officer D K Ravi, is contemplating considering the last message found on his mobile phone as the suicide note.

“The investigation is still on. But if it turns out that the last message sent from the officer’s mobile indicates the possible reason for the suicide, then the message will be considered as an electronic suicide note. It will also be a digital evidence since no suicide note was found in the apartment where he was found dead,” a source connected with the investigation said. The last message sent from Ravi’s mobile runs into about 200 words, according to the source.

A decision on considering the digital evidence as a suicide note, however, will be taken only after the police receive a detailed analysis of the gadgets sent to the Cyber Forensics division of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Madiwala here. Two mobile phones and an iPad are being analysed by the experts at the FSL.

“The report will throw more light on the calls made, both outgoing and incoming, from Ravi’s mobile phones. The electronic evidence will play a major role in the case. The call record details and viscera report are awaited. Until then, statements of the family, friends and colleagues who were in touch with the officer will be taken. Only a detailed viscera report can establish poison or any other element in the body,” the official said.

Sources said that CID had not found any foul play in the death of Ravi, after taking the statements of the family members and officials in the Commercial Tax Department. One of the investigating teams on Friday questioned Ravi's wife Kusuma and father-in-law Hanumantharayappa at their house in Nagarabhavi. Sources said that the CID team would consider Ravi's wife, father-in-law and the officer’s car driver as witnesses in the case.

The investigation has revealed that Ravi had made a last call around 11.22 am on March 16. He later sent a message to the same number minutes after the call and took the extreme step in his apartment at Koramangala.

CID source: It will also be a digital evidence since no suicide note was found in the apartment where he was found dead