Karnataka CM reacts after minister booked in contractor death case

After a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa over the death of a contractor who had accused the minister of demanding a commission for road construction, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday he will discuss the issue with his fellow Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

“Yes, an FIR has been registered. We have gathered all the information. I will speak with Eshwarappa. I don’t know what he said about his resignation. It will be cleared when we speak directly,” Bommai said, according to news agency ANI.

The police in Udupi, where contractor Santosh R Patil was found dead in a lodge on Tuesday, allegedly due to suicide, registered an FIR against Eshwarappa on the basis of a complaint filed by the deceased’s family, last night. The senior BJP leader was booked under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for abetment to suicide. Two of his aides have also been booked, the police said, informing that their names are Basavaraj and Ramesh.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress, which has called for the state panchayat raj minister’s ouster from the Cabinet, sent a delegation to Karnataka governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, seeking the minister’s resignation and a corruption case against him.

Thus far, the ruling BJP, as well as Eshwarappa himself, have rejected calls for his resignation. He was accused by Santosh Patil of demanding a commission to the tune of ₹4 crore for the construction of a road in Belagavi’s Higaldo village. Last month, Patil also wrote to Giriraj Singh, the Union minister for rural development and panchayat raj, complaining against Eshwarappa and his associates.