Revisiting MK Ganapathy case that brought Siddaramaiah government to its knees

DySP MK Ganapathy was found hanging at a hotel lodge in Madikeri in last July The police officer had blamed George and two senior IPS officers on a television channel hours before his death It is not clear whether he had left the death note Allegations of critical evidence being destroyed in the case was confirmed by the Forensic report

The Supreme Court's decision to have the CBI probe into the mysterious death of DySP MK Ganapathy has rekindled the hope among the family members of the deceased officer who have been fighting for justice. In the last one-and-half year, the family has suffered a lot - the loss of a family member, the controversies surrounding his death and the closure of the case by the CID. With the Apex court ordering the reopening of the case, here's a re-look into the death of the officer that had rocked the state.

1. DySP MK Ganapathy was found hanging at a lodge in Madikeri in July 2016 soon after he gave an interview to a local channel. He had alleged fired from his service gun. Two empty cartridges were found at the crime scene. 

2. In his interview, he had accused then home minister KJ George and his senior officers - AM Prasad and Pranab Mohanty of harassing him and also being pressurised in several cases. During the interview, he had stated that "If anything happened to him, KJ George, Pranab Mohanty and AM Prasad would be responsible."

3. From his chequered career to the marital dispute to depression, various theories were floated as the reasons for his death.

4. While Opposition parties demanded George's resignation, the government continued to support George.

5. The Madikeri police registered it as the case of unnatural death under Section 174 of CrPC. However, there was no case against the trio accused of abetting the suicide!

6. There were allegations that crucial evidence including the phone numbers, text messages, emails and files were allegedly deleted from Ganapathy's phone. In fact, the Forensic report reportedly said that the evidence in Ganapathy's case was destroyed including 145 PDF documents. The report also said that it was not a suicide but a cold blooded murder.

7. Following the uproar, the government ordered the CID inquiry into the case. As expected, the investigation agency - in one of the quickest probes - gave the clean chit to all the trio accused claiming that they did not find any evidence against them.

8. However, the family unhappy over the CID report approached the Apex Court seeking a CBI probe into it. It was reported that senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal was to appear for George in Ganapathy's case. However, the court considered the appeal for the CBI probe. The family now hopes to get justice from the CBI inquiry.