More articles by

Prathima Nandakumar
Prathima Nandakumar

COMEBACK

K.J. George to be re-inducted into Karnataka cabinet

Former Bengaluru Development minister K.J. George will be re-inducted into the Siddaramaiah government on Monday (September 26) at Rajbhavan. The move comes following the CID giving a clean chit to the Sarvajnanagar MLA in the Mangaluru DySP M.K. Ganapathy suicide case.  

kj-george-afp George is expected to focus on expediting infrastructure projects in the state capital

The CID filed a ‘B’ report (FIR 89/16) before the JMFC court, which had directed the local police to register a case of abetment (Section 306 IPC) against three people named by the family in its criminal complaint.

A Madikeri magistrate court has granted 10 days time for filing of objections to the 'B' report filed by the CID. 

Meanwhile, the high court dismissed the plea made by Ganapathy's 75-year-old father K. Kushalappa and younger brother Machaiah seeking a CBI probe into the case. Ganapathy's son Nehal has ruled out an appeal saying the family is "alone" in the battle and that he has lost out on a lot of time already in pursuit of justice.

Ganapathy, who allegedly committed suicide by hanging in his room at a lodge in Madikeri on July 7, had accused George and two senior IPS officers of harassment in an interview to a TV channel a few hours before his death. After the local police refused to file an FIR, Nehal filed a criminal complaint in the first additional JMFC court in Madikeri against George and senior cops Pranob Mohanty and AM Prasad accusing them of harassing his father. 

The government had immediately ordered a probe by the SIT, while the Madikeri court allowed the CID to probe the alleged abetment to suicide charges, following a  high court order.

With pressure mounting on the Congress government by both the BJP and the JD (S) to drop the tainted minister from the cabinet, George resigned from his post on July 18. 

Now, with the decks cleared for George's comeback, the mood in the ruling Congress seems to be in favour of an early election. The Cauvery crisis has earned the party some goodwill for its decision to "defy" the SC order. George, a close aide of the Gandhi family is likely to have a crucial role when the state goes to polls in 2018 or earlier.

Siddaramaiah, who had promised to appoint a minister dedicated to the city's development, had appointed then home minister George as Bengaluru development minister in October 2015, paving way for KPCC chief G. Parameshwara' s induction into the cabinet as the new home minister. 

After his re-induction, George is expected to focus on expediting infrastructure projects in the state capital to help fight the anti-urban image of Siddaramaiah. 

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
Topics : #Karnataka

Related Reading