D K Ravi probe: Officer attempted to acquire 50 acres of SC/ST land says CBI

New Delhi, May 20: Was IAS officer DK Ravi trying to acquire land of around 50 acres for a real estate project?

The Central Bureau of Investigation probing the case has found that Ravi and his friend were trying to acquire land of 50 acres for a real estate project and had sought investments from various quarters in this regard.

CBI sources say that apart from a personal issue, this also could be one of the reasons for the suicide. The CBI says as per the preliminary inquiry that it has conducted, the death occurred due to suicide by hanging.

The real estate venture:

The CBI during its investigation has found that Ravi and his friend Hari were part of a company called as the R and H properties. They were allegedly trying to acquire land of 50 acres which belonged to the SC/ST community in the Chikkaballapur area.

Money was alleged to have been collected from family and friends in this regard, the CBI has also found.

This angle was investigated following a message that Ravi had sent to his batch mate. The batch mate had told the police that her husband had invested Rs 10 lakh in the real estate firm after Ravi had requested him to do so.

When the CBI investigated Hari, they found that Ravi had decided to buy 50 acres of land belonging to the SC/ST community in Chikkaballapur. Hari also said that while the compensation had been paid to the farmers, the acquisition was not cleared as it is illegal to acquire land belonging to the SC/ST community.

Failure in real estate:
The CBI says that the failure to acquire the land caused problems for Ravi. He had to approach several people for help in a bid to recover his money, the CBI was also told by Hari.

Meanwhile the investors were pressurizing Ravi to return the money. Ravi in turn instructed Hari to withdraw Rs 2 crore from the account of R and H Properties and hand it over to his wife.
The CBI while probing the bank accounts of R and H Properties found that there were deposits of Rs 5.42 crore in it.

Death by suicide:
The preliminary inquiry by the CBI has concluded that Ravi had committed suicide. The reasons are being ascertained and the CBI feels that the property issue and a personal reason could have led to the officer committing suicide.

The CBI is likely to seek a second opinion in this regard. The viscera samples will be examined by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory if the need be, CBI officials also informed Oneindia.

OneIndia News