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Probe still in initial stage, no conclusion yet: CBI

The CBI, which is investigating the unnatural death of IAS officer D K Ravi, has found that R&H Properties, a real estate company with which he had links, had attempted to acquire 50 acres of land belonging to SC/ST community in Chikkaballapur bordering Bengaluru.

However, CBI sources said that the investigation was still on and no conclusion has been drawn. A few days ago, the CBI officials questioned Chikkaballapur Deputy Commissioner Dr Venkatesh M V, also a batchmate of Ravi. The CBI officials gathered information about the process of land acquisition attempted by R&H Properties. The real estate firm has a close relative of Ravi as one of the partners and has investments by his family members, the sources said.

Sources also revealed that the partner in the real estate firm, Hari K, was also questioned by the CBI. Hari, who hails from Pavagada in Tumakuru district, told the CBI that Ravi was keen on acquisition of land in Chikkaballapur. The probe has also revealed that some of Ravi’s batchmates have also invested in his firm. However, the project could not be continued and had to be stopped.

A CBI source said that though many angles have cropped up during the probe, no conclusion has yet been made on the reasons for the death. “All aspects and hypotheses relating to the unnatural death of Ravi are being inquired into. The matter is still under investigation and no conclusion has yet been drawn in the case,” an official said.

The CBI, which registered a Preliminary Enquiry in the case, has so far questioned many officials who were part of the post-mortem apart from Ravi’s wife, in-laws, parents and friends.

Sources said the team of CBI officials will question Ravi’s batchmates who were in touch with him in the last four-five years. They said that only the first round of questioning of all the persons concerned, including family members, close IAS batchmates and driver, has been done while the report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory is awaited.

Sources also said Ravi had apparently phoned a woman IAS batchmate only once on the day of his death and not 44 times as reported in media. The CBI has gone through Ravi’s call records and found that he had made only one call to her.

Referring to Ravi’s phone call details, sources said that several officers of the state government who were apparently behind such leaks are under the scanner of the CBI as it wants to identify those who were trying to sully the image of the deceased officer. They said it was possible that people leaking these inputs to the media were actually acting on the instructions of some persons who feared exposure during the course of the probe, according to a PTI report.

Ravi, who was working as Additional Commissioner (Enforcement), Commercial Tax Department, was found dead at his residence near Koramangala on March 17. The body of the 2009-batch IAS officer was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his ninth-floor flat at St John’s Wood Apartment.