Pramesh S Jain & Dr B Thomas (Special correspondent)
The Vidhana Soudha police on Thursday launched an investigation into an allegedly forged Rural Development Panchayat Raj Karnataka (RDPR) letter in connection with the suicide of Santosh Patil,a contractor from Hindalga.
On April 12, Patil killed himself and left behind a WhatsApp message blaming former Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa,who was forced to resign.
He had alleged that he had begun road work in Hindalga based on verbal assurances from the Minister and was under pressure to give commissions even though bill payments were pending.
The police have sought the help of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team to ascertain notes written in green ink stating that order copies are to be issued on 5/3/2022.
At the end, it stated ordered for approval,The police claim it was based on this letter, which was accessed by a section of the media,that road work on Hindalga village was taken up.
In fact the letter allegedly issued by the then CEO of the Zilla Panchayath is forged and no staff member of RDPR has written on this letter.
It does not resemble anyone’s handwriting, the RDPR department clarified .
Ramesh DO,Deputy Director,RDPR in his clarification said that such notes and work orders on a letter is illegal.
The letter going by its serial number is just a requisition received by the department and had been pending since then,said Mr. Ramesh in the FIR, which also stated.
Looking at all the aspects it was concluded that the letter with notes on green ink is a clear case of forgery.
The police are now trying to track down the source of the letter.
