Udupi police succumbed to KSE’s pressure: Deceased contractor’s wife

Renuka Patil, the wife of civil works contractor Santosh Patil who died by suicide in this past April, said there was no fair investigation into the death of her husband. She alleged that the police succumbed to the political pressure from former minister K S Eshwarappa and gave him a clean chit.

She demanded that the case be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) so that the truth could come out. Renuka was responding to the B summary report by the police which cleared the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA of any wrongdoing in Santosh’s death.

Santosh Patil who was found dead in a lodge at Udupi on April 12.

Renuka told reporters at Badas village, in Belagavi taluk, on Wednesday evening that Santosh’s WhatsApp messages were death notes, and his cell phone, in police custody, had evidence.

“My husband had made allegations of 40 per cent commission demand by Eshwarappa, through his associates and had paid about Rs 10 lakh, and was arranging the remaining amount,” Renuka told media persons.

She said that the Udupi police didn’t conduct a fair investigation and filed a B-report of the case. “We the family members shall challenge the B-report in court. We also want a CBI investigation into the case for the truth to come out,” she said.

She said she had even written a letter to the governor after Eshwarappa had claimed that he would come out clean in the case within 15 days—which became true. “The police saying there was no evidence could not be accepted. Suicide note of Santosh was in his cell phone along with other evidence. They could have been destroyed,” she feared.

Renuka also alleged that the police did not respond to the calls made by her family members seeking information about the progress in the investigation, but had sent three notices within the span of 15 days.

“If we write death notes and end our lives, will it be acceptable to police?” she questioned.

Youngsters from the village staged a protest against the Udupi police in front of Patil’s residence in Badas.