Karnataka BJP MLA booked after bizman dies by suicide: Police

BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali, along with five others, has been booked in connection with the suicide of a businessman in Bengaluru’s Ramanagar district on January 1

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka minister and BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali, along with five others, has been booked in connection with the suicide of a businessman in Bengaluru’s Ramanagar district on January 1, police said on Monday.

According to the police, the 47-year-old businessman’s body was found with a gunshot wound to the head in his car at Nettigere, located 32 km from Bengaluru, on Sunday evening

According to the police, the 47-year-old businessman’s body was found with a gunshot wound to the head in his car at Nettigere, located 32 km from Bengaluru, on Sunday evening. Police also found an eight-page suicide note that named Mahadevapura MLA Limbavali, and five others -- Gopi K, Somaiah, G Ramesh Reddy, Jayaram Reddy and Raghava Bhat.

According to the note, purportedly written by the businessman, he invested Rs1.5 crore in a Bengaluru pub ‘Opus Club’ in 2018, which promised him a profit of ₹3 lakh and a monthly return of ₹1.5 lakh. But he allegedly did not receive any profits. Limbavali is said to have tried to broker a compromise between him and the five partners named in the FIR, and an agreement was reached to pay the businessman his dues, but the latter did not receive anything, they added.

Police said the businessman left behind three suicide notes with the same content — one at his home, another on the wiper blade of his relative’s car and one in his car.

Based on the note and the complaint lodged by the businessman’s wife, a First Information Report was registered at Kaggalipura police station and the six accused were booked under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, said Ramanagara SP K Santosh Babu.

According to the complaint, he went to a resort in Nettigere along with his family on Saturday night to celebrate the New Year. He is said to have left the resort on Sunday morning, saying he needed to go to Sira, but went home instead, penned the death note and returned to the resort and allegedly shot himself in the car, the complaint said.

Limbavali has, however, distanced himself from the incident. “I’ve learnt that I’ve been named in the note. He used to handle my social media between 2010 and 2013. He had brought a business dispute of his to my notice and I asked him and his partners to resolve it amicably. I didn’t even ask how much he had invested or make any suggestion to the partners about how much they needed to pay. Later, he (Pradeep) came and thanked me. I am not aware why he died by suicide or why I have been named in the note,” he has told the media.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai called the case a “civil dispute”. “It is some civil dispute, police have seized off the matter & FIR has been done. Police will take further action. He (Aravind Limbavali) has made it clear that I’ve nothing to do & I wish that he’ll come clean,” Bommai said.