Karnataka Ex-Minister Reinducted After Clean Chit in Suicide Case

KJ George was administered the oath of office on Monday. (Courtesy: The News Minute)

Former Karnataka minister KJ George, who has been given a clean chit by the CID in a case related to the alleged suicide of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, was reinducted into the Siddaramaiah ministry on Monday.

George, a close confidant of the Chief Minister, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Vajubhai Vala at a ceremony held in Raj Bhavan.

He had earlier resigned on 18 July, soon after a local court directed the police to register an FIR against him and two police officers in connection with the suicide of 51-year-old MK Ganapathy.

Ganapathy was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a room in a lodge in Madikeri on 7 July.

He had earlier said in an interview to a local TV channel that George , AM Prasad (now Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety) and Pranab Mohanty (now on central deputation as Additional Deputy Director General of UIDAI) would be responsible “if anything happens to me”.

The court had issued directions based on a private criminal complaint by Ganapathy’s son, Nehal, requesting it to direct police to take up investigation against the minister and the officers for allegedly abetting his father’s suicide.

On 17 September, Karnataka CID gave a clean chit to George and the two senior police officers in its ‘B’ report, filed in a court in Madikeri.

George is likely to retain the Bengaluru Development and Town Planning portfolio, which he had held when he stepped down amid a huge political storm in the state with the opposition gunning for him.

(With inputs from PTI)