Probe into death of Karnataka LC Deputy Chairman is on, necessary action will be taken: Bommai

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday called for a high-level probe by an independent agency into the death of S L Dharme Gowda

Amidst demands from various quarters for an inquiry into the death of Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson S L Dharme Gowda, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said the state government was waiting for a preliminary police report.

“Taking the postmortem report, death note, and circumstantial evidence into consideration, the police is conducting a preliminary inquiry. Once we get the preliminary report, we will decide what future course of action has to be initiated,” Bommai said.

Bommai said the government had taken note of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s call for a ‘high-level inquiry’ into Gowda’s death.

Gowda was found dead at a railway track near Kadur on Tuesday. A death note was also reportedly found on the spot, raising questions about the reason behind the alleged suicide. Many leaders, including JD(S) Legislature Party leader H D Kumaraswamy, attributed it to the ruckus caused in the Upper House on December 15, where Gowda was made to sit on the Chair and heckled.

Meanwhile, the government on Thursday began the New Year’s Eve curfew at noon itself, around places like MG Road and Brigade Road, as against its earlier announcement of imposing it by 6 pm. “Based on feedback from officials, it was imposed earlier so that it would be easy to regulate the crowd,” Bommai said.