SC quashes abetment of suicide case against ex-Karnataka Energy Minister K J George, two others

Karnataka: In a major relief to former Karnataka Energy Minister KJ George and two IPS officers, the Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the criminal proceedings against them in a case relating to the abetment of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) MK Ganapathy’s suicide by hanging, eight years ago.

A two-judge bench of the top court led by Justice Bela M Trivedi and including Justice Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order.

While upholding the Karnataka High Court order, the top court said, “We do not find any reason of any wrongdoing against the accused persons — George and two others. Accordingly, we quash the case against them.”

The Karnataka High Court had on November 4, 2020, quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against former minister George and two senior IPS officers AM Prasad and Pronab Mohanty for abetting the suicide by hanging of DSP Ganapathy in July 2016 in Madikeri.

The HC judge, Justice John Michael Cunha, had in 2020 passed the order, while allowing the petitions filed by George, Prasad and Mohanty.

Initially, a special court in Karnataka, while rejecting the closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), took cognisance of the offence against them of abetting the suicide of Ganapathy.

The accused then moved the Karnataka HC challenging this order. They had questioned the legality of the August 28, 2020 order passed by the special court and sought quashing of it.

The HC, while allowing the plea of the accused, said it was evident from the records and disclosures made by witnesses in the case that the deceased (Ganapathy) suffered mental torture for not getting the executive posting of his liking and not on account of harassment by the accused as held by the special court.

The HC passed the order after going through the testimonies of various witnesses including the deceased’s son Nehal Ganapathy and his wife Pavana. It did not find any corroborative evidence against the accused persons and thereby quashed the case.

The High Court termed the special court’s observation as “nothing but perverse and ignoring the obvious”, and went on to say that there was no prima facie case made out against the accused persons to show that the deceased was suffering from any mental depression.

After the HC quashed the case, Ganapathy’s family members — sister Sabitha and others — filed an appeal in the top court challenging it.