Whistle-blower to TNM on DK Ravi's death: He called me last week to help pin down two builders

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Dhanya Rajendran| The News Minute| March 17, 2015| 12.30 pm IST

The untimely death of a young IAS officer, D K Ravi who had earned the reputation of being an honest and fearless officer by taking on the rich and the powerful in Karnataka has taken people in the state by shock.

DK Ravi, currently posted in Bengaluru as Additional Commissioner (Enforcement) in the Commercial Taxes Department of the Karnataka government, was found hanging at his apartment in the city on Monday. He had earned a reputation for being an upright officer who did not compromise on violations of the law. When he was transferred out of Kolar district as Deputy Commissioner after barely serving in the post for a year, the local people protested, demanding that the government re-instate him.

Read: Young IAS officer DK Ravi who exposed tax frauds and took on land mafia found dead in Bengaluru

The News Minute has learnt that just last week, Ravi had got in touch with a prominent whistle-blower in the city and had sought a meeting.

Ganesh S Koundinya, a whistle-blower behind the expose of various housing-related scams in the city told TNM that just last week Ravi had called him and had wanted them to work together.

“He had raided two prominent builders recently and they were suspected to be funding some co-operative societies. That is my area of interest and someone from the media had informed him that I had some evidence with me,” Ganesh said.

Though Ravi was dealing with commercial taxes, ‘he told me that since these developers had already been caught for Income Tax and Service Tax violation, we could work together to see if there was a commercial tax angle involved,’ Ganesh said.

“He told me that we should meet this week, but that meeting will never happen now,” Ganesh says.

(Image: Ganesh Koundinya's Facebook profile)

Ganesh Koundinya was responsible for exposing a series of alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites and luxury apartments to politicians, ministers, legislators and judges in the city.

Another IAS officer, who was DK Ravi’s batchmate (name withheld) told The News Minute that Ravi’s death needs to be investigated thoroughly. “If the call to the whistle-blower is true, then it shows that Ravi was deep into his job. Whether this was a suicide or murder, the government has to probe properly,” he said.

A man known to have taken on the land and sand mafia fearlessly, Ravi's death has triggered off protests inside the Karnataka assembly and on the streets with the people of Kolar grieving the most.

Behind the protests is this lurking suspicion that something is amiss and a disbelief that a young officer with such high aspirations could take his life so abruptly. The BJP has labelled the death a murder and asked for a CBI probe.

In the last few weeks, Enforcement Directorate teams lead by Ravi raided prominent builders and real estate sharks. It is estimated that crores of unpaid tax amounts was recovered by this young officer in a short span.

Read- Opposition slams Karnataka government over IAS officer D K Ravi's death

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