Ramesh rang up friends minutes before hanging himself

Apalled by the I-T raids and fearing for his reputation in society,
M S Ramesh, the personal assistant of G Parameshwara, had reportedly briefed his close friends about the extreme step he was about to take on Saturday. Police said Ramesh had called up a couple of his friends and informed them about his plan.

According to his family members, Ramesh who was staying in Mariyappanapalya near Jnanabharathi left the house at around 9 am, saying he was heading to Parameshwara’s house. A few minutes later, when his wife Sowmya called his up on his mobile phone, it was switched off. While she assumed that he may be busy at work, she was shocked on hearing about her husband’s suicide an hour later.

Police said Ramesh, soon after leaving the house, stopped his car inside Jnanabharati campus near the Sports Authority of India premises and called up his friend Darshan. He reportedly confided in Darshan, his fears about the I-T interrogation and told him that he was going to end his life.

Switching off his phone, Ramesh reportedly walked 150 meters into the forest from his car and hung himself to death from a tree branch, that was only 10 feet from the ground.

Panic-stricken friends informed his family members and rushed to the police. Tracking his last location, they arrived at Jnanabharati, only to find his parked car.

Searching around the car, they found his body hanging from a tree at around 10.45 am. The police recovered two mobile phones, a charger and a suicide note from his car, which said that he was distraught by the I-T raids.

Ramesh, in his suicide note, apologised to his wife and asked her to take care of their two children. He also requested the I-T officials not to ‘harass’ his wife and children on the pretext of inquiry.

Addressing his siblings Lakshmidevi, Padma and Satish, Ramesh said he wanted to help them out, but could not fulfil his wish. Hailing from a remote hamlet of Melehalli in Ramanagara taluk, Ramesh had a modest beginning.

Starting his career a decade ago as a typist near Vidhana Soudha, Ramesh slowly rose in his career. He later joined the KPCC office as a stenographer and worked his way up in the party.

According to his friends from Melehalli, Ramesh, who studied only till class 10, was intelligent and hardworking. This brought him close to Parameshwara, when he became president of the state Congress. He later became Parameshwara’s personal assistant.

Ramesh often visited Melehalli on weekends. He lived in Bengaluru with his wife and children. His parents Sampangaiah and Savithramma stay in his native village.

His brother Satish works as the PA of another Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi. Ramesh, who had got a three-storey building constructed in Channapatna a few years ago, had reportedly purchased a flat in an apartment in Bengaluru recently.