Lok Sabha Speaker demands probe into Karnataka Council Dy Chairman SL Dharme Gowda's death

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday said that he is distressed by the sad news of the death of Karnataka Legislative Council Deputy Chairman SL Dharme Gowda who was found dead on a rail track in Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka in the early hours of Tuesday.

'A high-level, unbiased investigation is necessary'

Referring to the December 15 incident in the legislative council, the Speaker said that the unfortunate incident with him as a Presiding Officer is a "harsh blow to the dignity of democracy". Om Birla demanded that "a high-level, unbiased investigation into his death is necessary."

The JD(S) leader allegedly committed suicide and his body was found on a rail track near Gunasagara in Kadur taluk, according to police officials. Dharme Gowda, 64, who was a JD(S) MLC, is survived by his wife, son and a daughter. His brother, S L Bhoje Gowda, is also an MLC.

According to sources, Gowda had left his farmhouse at Sakharayapattana in a private car on Monday evening. After reaching the spot, he had asked his driver to stay at a distance and went alone on the pretext of talking to someone, they said, adding that a "suicide note" has been recovered.

Kumaraswamy calls it a 'political murder'

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the body was recovered at about 1:30 am. "Last evening around 6:30 PM, he had left his driver and staff and had gone alone on the pretext of receiving someone. As he did not come back till 8:45 pm, his sons and brother Bhoje Gowda were informed, who then spoke to the Superintendent of police. His last call was tracked and found to be from near the railway track," the minister said.

Several political leaders, especially from JD(S), including its leader H D Kumaraswamy, have expressed apprehensions that the turn of events at the council might have led to Gowda taking such a drastic step, as he was deeply pained by it.

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The body was taken to McGann Hospital in Shivamogga, before being shifted to Sakharayapattana in Chikkamagaluru to enable the public to pay their respects and for the last rites. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy were among several political leaders who paid their last respects.

Kumaraswamy said Dharme Gowda was like his brother and had chosen him over Congress's MLA seat offer during the 2013 assembly polls. "I'm not ready to call this incident as a suicide..it is a murder by today's political system...for our selfish political desires we are killing honest people like him," he said in an emotional tone.

Hinting that the recent incident at the council might have led Gowda to take the drastic step, Kumaraswamy said "one party (Congress), despite not having a majority, conducted itself illegally, while the other (BJP), with a desire to get the post (council Chairman), had put pressure on him. "Truth should come out on what led to it. Such a thing should not happen again," he said.

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(With PTI inputs)