Deputy SP suicide case: Court orders FIR against Karnataka minister

NEW DELHI: Karnataka minister KJ George, who faces harassment charges in the alleged suicide case of Deputy SP Ganpathi, resigned from the ministry on Monday evening. The move comes hours after Madikeri court ordered FIR against minister KJ George and two senior police officials in the alleged suicide case. Siddaramaiah has convened an emergency cabinet meeting to decide on George's resignation.Ganapathi had ended his life by hanging himself at a private lodge in Karnataka's Madikeri on July 7.The Madikeri court in Kodagu district on Monday ordered police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against George and two IPS officers in connection with the alleged suicide of Ganapathi on July 7.Additional Judicial Magistrate Annapurneshwari ordered Madikeri police to file the FIR against George, Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A.M. Prasad and Lokayukta (Ombdusman) Inspector General of Police Pranob Mohanty on a private complaint filed by Ganapathi's elder son Nehal under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).The complaint is based on Ganapathi's interview to the local news channel hours before he committed suicide in a lodge room in the town. In the interview he accused the trio of harassing him and held them responsible should anything happen to him in future.Madikeri is about 260 km from Bengaluru.Though local police had filed a case of unnatural death under Section 174 of the IPC on July 8, the complainant petitioned the court to treat Ganapathi's interview as his dying declaration under 32 (1) of the IPC and file an FIR against the trio.The issue of alleged suicide by a Deputy Superintendent of Police continued to rock the Karnataka Assembly for the sixth day on Monday, with the Opposition sticking to its demand for minister George's ouster and a CBI probe.George was the Home Minister till October 31, 2015 before he was made Bengaluru Development Minister and the ruling party's state unit president G. Parameshwara replaced him.