Contractor's suicide: FIR against Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa

The Karnataka police have booked state’s Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa for abetment of suicide of a contractor who was also a leader of far-right group.

Santhosh Patil, the contractor, who had recently accused Eshwarappa of harassing him for “commissions”, was found dead in a hotel in Udupi on Tuesday.

Eshwarappa's two associates, Basavaraj and Ramesh, have also been named in the FIR which was registered based on a complaint filed by contractor's brother Prashant.

Patil had accused the minister's associates of demanding a 40 per cent commission in the ₹ 4 crore work he had carried out in Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department.

Patil, who identified himself as the national secretary of a right-wing group called Hindu Vahini, had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister for rural development Giriraj Singh alleging that Eshwarappa and his associates were harassing him for commissions. Eshwarappa claimed that he did not know Patil.

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