A special court for peoples representatives in Bengaluru on Wednesday asked Karnataka police to submit all documents about contractor Santosh Patil’s death case, in which former minister and BJP legislator KS Eshwarappa is the main accused.
Eshwarappa had to resign over the case after the contractor allegedly accused him of seeking a bribe. Police later gave the minister a clean chit.
The petitioner’s counsel, KBN Swamy, said no documents were attached to the final report in the suicide case and sought directions in this regard to the police department to submit all documents. “It is the family’s right to have these documents and to verify if they were used by police,” he said.
The court consented to the demand and asked police to submit the documents, especially those which they have not attached to the final report. It further directed Udupi city police, who investigated the case and gave a clean chit to Eshwarappa, to ensure the submission of documents by September 17.
This comes after the family of Patil, the contractor from Karnataka’s Belagavi who died by suicide after accusing Eshawappa of corruption, has moved a court in Bengaluru against the clean chit given to Eshawarappa.
{{/usCountry}}This comes after the family of Patil, the contractor from Karnataka’s Belagavi who died by suicide after accusing Eshawappa of corruption, has moved a court in Bengaluru against the clean chit given to Eshawarappa.
{{/usCountry}}Patil had died after alleging that Eshwarappa’s aides sought a 40 per cent commission for a road construction project he had done.
Prashanth Patil, a cousin of Patil, on Tuesday submitted a petition questioning the clean chit given to Eshwarappa by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) in the special people’s representative court in Bengaluru.
He alleged that the SIT has filed the B-report (closure report for want of evidence) after coming under political influence. He has also sought the court to entrust the case to a different agency.
Prashanth Patil said he did not agree with the clean chit given to Eshwarappa. “My brother has been given out injustice as police have conducted inquiries to help the accused. The court has asked for submission of all evidence, information on the movement of my brother, data from his mobile, call list and CCTV footage regarding the suicide case,” he said.
Reacting to the court order, Eshwarappa said the family has a right to approach the court. “There was an investigation into the matter. I have told the investigators that I didn’t know this person, and I have been given a clean chit. Since my name was mentioned in the WhatsApp message, I had given my resignation. Now why he committed suicide is up to police to find out. Whether the death note was real or not, is for police to find out. The family has the right to approach the court and let them. I am confident that I will get clean chit after the court proceedings as well,” he said.
Udupi police last month filed a ‘B’ report which said there was no evidence to support that Eshwarappa had any role to play in the contractor’s suicide. Santhosh Patil was found dead in April 2022 and a message to his friends had alleged that Eshwarappa was the “sole reason for his death.”
After Santhosh Patil’s death created an uproar, Eshwarappa was forced to resign from the cabinet.
Before the closure report was filed, Santhosh Patil’s wife had written to Karnataka governor Thaawarchand Gehlot seeking a transparent investigation into the death of her husband, and had alleged that police were working in compliance with Eshwarappa.
In her letter, she alleged that the former minister had used his political power and money to influence the investigation in his favour and that police were acting as per his orders.