The death of a Karnataka cadre IAS officer, Anurag Tewari took a political turn with BJP Karnataka state President, BS Yeddyurappa alleging that Tewari had unearthed a Rs 2,000 crore scam in the Food and Civil Supplies Department. Tewari had worked as a director in the department.
The veteran BJP leader and Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje have now demanded a CBI probe into the mysterious death of the bureaucrat.
Soon after Yeddyurappa called for a CBI probe, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, along with legal experts, had a 40 minute meeting to discuss the Tewari case.
“An IAS officer died under mysterious circumstances in Uttar Pradesh. There have been so many deaths of bureaucrats and these officers in Karnataka do not feel safe anymore. I have spoken to the UP CM Yogi Adithyanath and I have suggested that a CBI probe would bring out the truth. Now, the Congress government is going to destroy all the evidence and say that they are ready for a CBI probe. Look at the bureaucrat death cases like the Anupama Shenoy one or DK Ravi’s case. They were not investigated properly. A CBI probe should be initiated before the Congress government can get their hands on this evidence,” Shobha Karandlaje said.
However, it is the CBI that concluded that DK Ravi and IAS officer had committed suicide.
Refuting the BJP’s allegations of a Rs 2,000 crore scam, Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Minister, UT Khader lashed out at the BJP and said that the Congress would “not pay any heed to the BJP’s utterings”.
“We are very sorry for his death. Let them probe the case under any agency. We will not pay heed to BJP’s utterings. Instead of mourning the loss of an officer, they are trying to turn it into a political blame game. Anurag Tewari did not bring to my notice, any such irregularities within the department. I would have taken stringent action if such irregularities were brought to my notice. We cracked down on the restaurants recently for overcharging water bottles. If we don’t leave a few thousand of rupees, we would not forgo a Rs 2,000 crore scam,” Minister UT Khader said.
Anurag Tiwari, an IAS officer with the Karnataka cadre was found dead in Lucknow on Wednesday.
According to ANI reports, officials found 36-year-old's body on the road side on Wednesday morning, near a guest house he had been staying in, in Hazratganj.
While his body has been sent for postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, a preliminary examination revealed an injury on his chin.
He had left Karnataka in March for training, which was to get over on May 10. However, he had taken 10 days of personal leave and stayed in Lucknow.
Anurag was reportedly an officer from the 2007 batch of the Karnataka cadre. He hailed from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh.