1
3
A young IAS officer, who earned the reputation of being an honest officer and took on the sand mafia, was found dead at his apartment in south Bangalore on Monday evening. The 2009 batch IAS officer D K Ravi, 36, was found hanging in his ninth floor flat at St John’s Wood Apartments at around 6.30 pm when his wife Kusuma entered the house, Inspector Prashant Kumar of the Madivala police station said. The police said a case of suicide is suspected.Bangalore Police Commissioner M N Reddi said the death occurred between 11 am and 6.30 pm when no one else was at home. “The incident came to light when his wife and father-in-law came to the apartment to check on him after he didn’t answer phone calls through the day. A lunch box sent to his office had also been returned. His wife opened the flat with a spare key that was in her possession,’’ the police commissioner said, adding that Ravi was found hanging in his bedroom. “Prima facie it seems to be a case of suicide. The motive behind the incident will be investigated by a team lead by Dr Rohini Katoch Sepat, the deputy commissioner of police (south east),’’ he said.A native of Kunigal in Tumkur, Ravi was working in Bangalore as the Additional Commissioner (Enforcement) in the Commercial Taxes Department of the Karnataka government. He had earned a reputation of a no nonsense officer during his earlier stint as the deputy commissioner of the backward Kolar district in southern Karnataka.The IAS officer had been hailed as a hero by people in Kolar for his work in the region and was involved in several stand-offs with local politicians and even the superintendent of police for taking on the sand mafia. Following the simmering differences in Kolar, Ravi was transferred to Bangalore on October 29, 2014 by the Congress government. In his tenure in the commercial taxes department Ravi had ensured collection of taxes to the tune of over Rs 100 crore and had forced several top builders and jewellers in Bangalore to pay up dues. Police sources said that Ravi went to his office in the National Games Village complex in Koramangala in south Bangalore on Monday morning but returned home before noon. “What he did on Monday was an aberration from his normal work day,’’ Reddi said. Home Minister K J George and MLAs from the Kolar and Chikkaballapur region visited the IAS officer’s apartment following his death to pay homage.