Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JD)

Mangaluru, Jul 7: In the second case of suicide by a cop in the state this week, deputy superintendent of police (DySP) M K Ganapati, who was serving in Mangaluru, allegedly ended his life in Madikeri on Thursday July 7.

Mangaluru residence

Madikeri lodge

Ganapati (51) was serving as DySP in IGP (western range) office here. About two months ago, he was transferred from Bengaluru, where he had served in various posts. He was inspector at Kadri police station during the 2008 church attacks, and had also served as sub-inspector in Bantwal, Puttur and Mangaluru.

Sources said that Ganapati went to Madikeri from Mangaluru on Thursday morning and rented a room in Sri Vinayaka lodge. He reportedly left behind a two-page suicide note, sources said. The receptionist of the lodge said that he came there alone in the morning and was out till afternoon. The incident came to light later in the evening when police personnel visited the lodge, sources said. He was found hanging from the fan and was in uniform at the time of death.

The reason for taking the extreme step is not yet known, but sources said that he was being harassed by higher officers in the police department and a politician, and was also miffed with the state government over the issue of transfers in the department.

Interestingly, in an interview to a local news channel in Madikeri earlier in the day, Ganapati said that he was being harassed and pressured by higher officers in various cases, and declared that if anything happened to him, former home minister K J George, Lokayukta IGP Pranab Mohanty and former Mangaluru IGP and present ADGP in state intelligence department A M Prasad would be responsible. In the explosive interview, he revealed how transfers were made 'on the basis of caste' and how sincere officers were being 'pressured' into 'adjusting' cases. It is alleged that he was particularly pressured in some of the communal cases and in church attack case during his stint in Mangaluru. 

Sources said Ganapati named K J George, Pranab Mohanty and A M Prasad in the death note also, stating that they were harassing him and that when he was suspended during his term in Rajgopal Nagar police station, it was over a 'trivial' matter. He reportedly left another death note for his family. 

Ganapati hailed from Munjarayapattana, Siddhapur near Madikeri and completed his education there. His wife and two sons stay in a rented flat in Mangaluru. Belonging to 1991 batch, Ganapati was a former sportsman and entered police service through sports quota. He had been suspended from duty while serving at Rajgopal Nagar police station in 2014 for not following Standard Operating Procedure and allegedly 'pocketing' stolen money recovered from a thief. 

On July 5, another DySP, Kallappa Handibag committed suicide in Belagavi after he was accused of kidnapping a man and demanding ransom. The case is being probed by the CID.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Jagadish Shettar criticized the state government, demanding K J George's resignation and immediate suspension of the two officers named in the death note. Former deputy CM R Ashok said that BJP would hold protests against the state government in the coming days. He also said that Ganapati was a sincere officer who had approached him for help as he was fed up with the frequent transfers effected by the government. 

Ganapati's wife and two sons have left for Madikeri.