Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jul 17: Even as the opposition parties have been continuing to fight for their demand for ordering Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the suicide of deputy superintendent of police (DySP), K M Ganapati, the state government has ordered formation of a single-judge commission of inquiry headed by retired high court judge, Justice K N Keshavanarayana.
Justice Keshavanarayana, born in 1952, had begun working as advocate in 1977. He was appointed as district judge in 1993, and after getting promoted gradually, he was chosen to be an additional judge of the high court in 2008. He was later made permanent judge, before retiring in 2015. In the high court, he had mostly handled criminal cases. Earlier, he had been appointed by the governor as the member of single man committee to look into the irregularities in Vishweshwaraya University and he had completed the task and submitted report.
The government has in effect, rejected the demand of Ganapati's wife, Pavana, to appoint one of the two retired Lokayuktas, Justice N Santosh Hegde or Justice N Venkatachalaiah, as head of the proposed judicial commission of inquiry.
Ganapati, before committing suicide in a lodge at Madikeri, had given an interview to a local television channel, in which he had said that he faced harassment at the hands of minister, K J George, and senior IPS officers, M N Prasad and Pranav Mohanty. He had asserted that if anything happens to him, these three would be responsible.
The government has already announced in the legislature its intention to appoint a judicial commission to investigate this case. The commission has been given six months time to complete its task. The commission has been asked to utilize the power vested with it under the Commissions of Inquiry Act while holding inquiry, and submit a report thereof.
The department of administration has been asked to provide to the commission which will have its office in the city, office space, staff, and all other facilities it might require.