Govt presses HC to vacate stay on Ravi case report

The State government on Tuesday submitted before the high court that there is an urgency to place the status report of the CID probe into the unnatural death of IAS officer D K Ravi before the Legislature and pleaded for vacating the stay order on it.

While making a case for vacating the stay order, Additional Advocate General A S Ponnanna said that the government is answerable to the Opposition as well as the general public.
He was arguing on the interlocutory application (IA) seeking to vacate the stay granted by the court on March 22. The interim order was passed during the hearing of a petition by Sudhir Reddy, husband of IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri, who is Mandya Zilla Panchayat CEO and also Ravi’s batchmate.

Reddy’s counsel Sajan Poovayya said the interim order must not be vacated as the details of the CID investigation will be out in the public domain.

He said reports that Ravi had made 44 calls to the woman officer on March 16 were absolutely wrong. The petitioner was with his wife on that day and there were hardly four calls, Poovayya added.

Justice S Abdul Nazeer directed the petitioner's advocate to file objections to the IA and adjourned the hearing to Thursday.

At a press conference, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy  charged that crucial evidence has been destroyed during the investigation. Kumaraswamy also told reporters that certain key people have not been interrogated by the CID.  

Ravi’s father-in-law Hanumantharayappa also suspected destruction of evidence. He said the CID had collected DVR of CCTV cameras at his residence and returned it a couple of days later. The DVR now contains recordings only after 10:30 am on the day of Ravi’s death.

“I don’t know if the visuals got deleted accidentally. We had not seen them before. There are four CCTV cameras at different locations in the house. They are functional 24/7. We could not watch the CCTV footage earlier and realised only when CID officials came home asking for the DVR to verify the footage,” he said.

A senior CID official said they had nothing to do with the CCTV visuals. “If there is any complaint against the CID, he can approach the CBI. The CID has not tampered with any evidence,” the official said.

Social activist T J  Abraham on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the Madivala police seeking registration of a case of abetting suicide and destroying evidence against Ravi’s wife Kusuma and her father Hanumantharayappa.