The death of contractor and BJP worker Santosh Patil, which has led to the resignation of senior Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, has brought back memories of the death of Dy.SP M.K. Ganapathy in July 2016, leading to the resignation of then Minister K.J. George, and that of IAS officer D.K. Ravi.
Ganapathy had given an interview to a local television channel in Madikeri blaming Mr. George and two senior IPS officers and hours later was found dead in a lodge. Though the police initially did not book the Minister and the officers for abetment, they had to after a local court directed them to. Mr. George resigned after that. The case was later transferred to the CBI which gave a clean chit to the three in 2019 and Mr. George was reinducted.
A question similar to what arose after the death of Ganapathy — whether his television interview amounted to a “dying declaration” — is being posed now in Patil’s case. The police are yet to bring on record the WhatsApp message he reportedly sent sometime before ending his life, blaming Mr. Eshwarappa for his death, as a dying declaration. Several BJP leaders have alleged a conspiracy against Mr. Eshwarappa and have expressed doubts about the origin of the message itself.
