'Why govt not probing threat calls Ravi got'

JD(S) leader  D Kumaraswamy on Friday sought to know why the government was not probing the threat calls D K Ravi reportedly received.

Addressing the media in Vidhana Soudha here, the former chief minister said the government was systematically giving a ‘problem in personal relationship’ angle to the death of the upright officer and a section of the media is being used for it.

Referring to a report in a newspaper, he said it says Ravi had made 44 calls to a woman IAS officer. But one should not read too much into such calls. Also, Ravi had received calls which had warned him of ‘eliminating’ him. But the government is not probing them at all.
The government seems to have the intention of tarnishing the image of an honest officer.

If Siddaramaiah can speak about the 44 calls Ravi made to a woman officer, then he must reveal the details of other calls too. Would the investigation be restricted to only these 44 calls, he questioned.

Kumaraswamy said the woman officer had met the chief secretary seeking help. But unfortunately, instead of giving protection to her, the details of the interaction has been leaked to the media. Though he did not reveal the name of the woman officer, at one point he said she was the chief executive officer of Mandya zilla panchayat. “She was interrogated by the CID from 10 pm to 2 am. She was made to give statements forcibly,” Kumaraswamy claimed.

Her only fault, Kumaraswamy said, was to reveal the truth that Ravi had called her before his death. “She is an able officer who has won a national award. Some officers are asking her to leave the city keeping her security in mind,” he said. But he did not specify the city.

When reporters quizzed him over the details of the threat calls, the former chief minister said he can’t give all the details. Referring to media reports that Ravi’s wife had hidden the fact that she was once married, Kumaraswamy said it was unfortunate that the government was planting such reports in the media.