KAS officer arrested for abetting driver’s suicide
Kalaburagi, (DHNS): The police on Sunday arrested Karnataka Administrative Services (KAS) officer Bheema Naik, nearly a week after his driver committed suicide.
Naik along with his private driver Mohammed were picked up from a house in Kalaburagi.
K C Ramesh Gowda had committed suicide at a lodge at Maddur in Mandya district on December 6. He had left a note, saying he was being harassed for his knowledge of mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy’s money-laundering deals. Ramesh was facing death threats from Naik and Mohammed, the victim’s brother had told the police. Later, the Maddur Town police had booked Naik and Mohammed for abetment to suicide.
In a joint operation, the Mandya and Kalaburagi police arrested the duo around 11 am from the residence of Naik’s relative at CIB Colony behind the Central bus stand in Kalaburagi. “There was information that Naik was staying at a relative’s house here.
Based on this input and by tracing his mobile phone location, the officer and his driver were arrested and handed over to the Mandya police,” Kalaburagi SP N Shashikumar said. The Mandya police had arrived in Kalaburagi on Saturday night.
Sources said Naik, Special Land Acquisition Officer, Bengaluru Urban district, had gone to Kalaburagi to visit his children.
Naik had lost his wife Rajeshwari, a native of Kalaburagi, in 2012. His sons, studying in Class XII and Class IX in Bengaluru, were worried when their father did not return home after reports of Ramesh’s suicide emerged. Subsequently, their maternal uncle took them to Kalaburagi.
There are also reports that Naik had surrendered before the police in Kalaburagi after he came from Solapur in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Mandya SP C H Sudheer Kumar Reddy told reporters in Maddur that Naik and Mohammed will be produced before the jurisdictional court. Documents related to the case will be handed over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which has been entrusted with the probe. Sudheer said a team led by Malavalli Sub-Inspector Ravikumar had arrested them.
Ramesh has left behind a 12-page handwritten note, saying Naik helped Janardhana launder Rs 125 crore against a 20% commission. He has also listed the assets amassed by Naik and the bribes he purportedly paid officials and politicians to close cases of corruption against him. The note also mentions the name of a senior judge of the Supreme Court who retired recently.
