BENGALURU: MS Ramesh, the aide of Congress MLA and former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara who allegedly committed suicide on Saturday, was cremated on Sunday at his native Melehalli in Ramanagara district. Parameshwara participated in the last rites.
Ramesh’s body was found hanging from a roadside tree in Bengaluru on Saturday, hours after income-tax sleuths concluded raids on properties, including medical colleges, owned by Parameshwara.
Ramesh’s sibling Satish MS has filed a police complaint claiming his brother was harassed by I-T officials. On Sunday, Satish reiterated harassment from I-T officials had pushed his brother to take the extreme step. Ramesh’s wife, Sowmya also visited Jnana Bharathi police, which have jurisdiction in the suicide case.
“We have already questioned some individuals with regard to Ramesh’s suicide and will question some others on Monday,” police said, adding they will obtain statements from people he last spoke to, including his friend Darshan, Anil Kumar, a driver who works for Parameshwara, and a couple of people from the media.
A family member said Ramesh had planned to stage Kurukshetra drama in his village and had wanted Parameshwara to grace the performance. Ramesh was to don the role of Arjuna and had even practised for it, but had recently stopped attending practice sessions because of his busy schedule.
“We are yet to come to terms with the suicide,” the family member said. “We don’t know if he was threatened by the I-T department.”
Ramesh, who had failed the SSLC exam, learnt typing and first ran a photocopying facility near Vidhana Soudha. Later, he joined the
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and began working with Parameshwara when he became KPCC president.
The I-T department on Saturday had claimed it did search at Ramesh’s house, but Sowmya insisted officials had searched their house in Mariyappana Palya, near Jnana Bharathi.
Meanwhile, home minister Basavaraj Bommai said in Hubballi a postmortem report will give a clear picture on the case and insisted the investigation will be fair and free. He also asked Congress leaders not to politicise the issue.
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