E-Paper
'No question of resigning': K'taka minister as contractor's death triggers row
"RDPR minister KS Eshwarappa is solely responsible for my death. I'm taking this decision keeping my aspirations aside. I request with folded hands to our prime minister, chief minister, our beloved lingayat leader BSY and everybody else to extend a helping hand to my wife and kids," his suicide note says.
In a shocking incident, contractor Santhosh K Patil, who levelled corruption charges against the Karnataka senior BJP minister, KS Eshwarappa, has found dead in a hotel in Udupi on Tuesday, having sent a death note in which he stated that Eeshwarappa was directly responsible for his demise.
"RDPR minister KS Eshwarappa is solely responsible for my death. I am taking this decision keeping my aspirations aside. I request with folded hands to our prime minister, chief minister, our beloved lingayat leader BSY and everybody else to extend a helping hand to my wife and kids," his suicide note says.
Santosh had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against Karnataka state rural development minister KS Eshwarappa alleging that the minister and his associates were harassing him for giving the commission to clear bills for civil work that he carries out on the Minister’s instructions.
Eshwarappa said: “There is no question of resigning. We have to wait for the verdict of the court in the case I had filed against Santosh Patil. I make it very clear that I am not at fault anywhere."
Patil, who identified himself as the national secretary of a right-wing group called Hindu Vahini, had alleged that he was allotted ₹4 crore work and even after completing it, funds were not released. He further stated that Eshwarappa’s aide has been asking for a 40 per cent cut. Patil had also given interviews to the national media accusing Eshwarappa of corruption. Later, he was found hanging from the ceiling fan of the hotel room, by police after he was reported to have gone missing, leaving a note behind.
As an immediate response to this incident, Eshwarappa said,“I don’t know who Santosh Patil is. I have asked Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to conduct an inquiry into the incident.”
Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress, on Tuesday, launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the death of Santosh and has blamed CM Bommai for his inaction.
"Bommai as a CM has failed to take any action against his minister KS Eshwarappa who should be dismissed from the cabinet...Eshwarappa is responsible for Patil's death (alleged suicide)... He must be arrested... The entire state knows Eshwarappa is a corrupt man," said Siddaramaiah.
Following this Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that an impartial probe will be conducted into the death of this Belagavi-based contractor who is survived by wife and a one-and-half-year-old child.
