'PM, CM Complicit': Cong on Death of BJP Worker Who Accused Min of Corruption

Santhosh Patil, who had accused Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa of corruption, was found dead on Tuesday.

The Congress has lashed out at the government after Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member and contractor Santhosh Patil was found dead in Udupi.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

The Congress has lashed out at the government after Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member and contractor Santhosh Patil was found dead in Udupi.

Patil, who had accused Karnataka Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister KS Eshwarappa of corruption, was found dead on Tuesday, 12 April, in Udupi.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, 12 April, said, "BJP’s 40% Commission government in Karnataka has claimed the life of their own Karyakarta. The victim’s pleas to the PM went unanswered."

AICC General Secretary and State Congress in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that corruption level in state is so high that the party is unable to protect its own workers, adding that the BJP worker died by suicide as PM Modi did not bother to react to the letter written to him.

Surjewala said that any delay in action will prove Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's complicity in the matter.

Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that CM Bommai should immediately take action on this.

"Contractors keep talking about their condition, they take loans to complete their work. If ministers keep harassing them, they will not able to work here," Kharge said, according to news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanded action against Eshwarappa and said that the BJP government should sack him.

Shivakumar demanded a timely judicial inquiry into the death and said that corruption was at an all-time high under BJP rule. Siddaramaiah said that the Karnataka government should file an FIR against him under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

"Eshwarappa should immediately be arrested and he must be dismissed from the Cabinet," Siddaramaiah said, according to The News Minute.

What Had Happened?

Santhosh, who hailed from Hindalaga in Belagavi, had been missing since Monday. A day later, his body was found at a lodge in Udupi.

Police officials are investigating a text message he purportedly sent to his friends stating that he had decided to end his life and that Eshwarappa was "solely responsible for his death."

"RDPR minister KS Eshwarappa is solely responsible for my death. I am taking this decision keeping my aspirations aside. I request with folded hands to our prime minister, chief minister, our beloved lingayat leader BSY and everybody else to extend a helping hand to my wife and kids," the note, allegedly sent from his phone, stated.

The police are reportedly looking into his call data records.