BJP leader, former Karnataka minister Eshwarappa gets clean chit in civil contractor death case

The Udupi police have now filed a B report in a special court in Bengaluru stating that no evidence of criminality as suggested by the FIR in the case had been found in the probe.

Police sources said Santhosh Patil never mentioned at any time that the minister or his aides had demanded a 40 per cent commission for clearance of the bills for road work implemented by Patil in Hindalgi village of Belagavi district. “There was no mention of demands by Eshwarappa in statements made by Santhosh Patil,” they said.

“Secondly, Santhosh Patil met Eshwarappa only on two occasions. Once before starting the work in February 2021 and then after the work was completed. The first time he met he gave a request to the minister which was not read but was set aside. The second time he met the minister, he was told the work cannot be approved by the ministry and that the contractor should approach the local panchayats for clearance of bills,” police sources said.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar who campaigned for the removal of KS Eshwarappa from the BJP cabinet and his arrest in the case said the government had decided to give the BJP leader a clean chit soon after the incident.

“During the investigation of the suicide of Santhosh Patil, the chief minister, Yediyurappa, and the home minister all said that Eshwarappa would come clean. When the probe was still underway the government declared his innocence and this brought pressure on the investigating authorities. To protect the government, the B report has been filed today,” the Congress leader said.

Prior to his death, Santhosh Patil had alleged that the state government had failed to clear his bills worth over Rs 4 crore for 108 civic works carried out in Hindalga village on the basis of informal approvals.

An official of the rural development and panchayat raj department in Karnataka later filed a police complaint alleging involvement of forgery in the clearance provided for civil works reportedly implemented by the deceased contractor in Hindalga under Belagavi.

Rural development minister Eshwarappa was forced to quit the cabinet of CM Basavaraj Bommai after being named as the first accused in the case of alleged abetment of suicide registered by the Udupi police on the basis of a complaint filed by the contractor’s brother Prashanth Patil.

Ahead of his death, the contractor Santhosh Patil had stated that the minister for rural development in the Karnataka government, KS Eshwarappa, should be held responsible if something happened to him.

Santhosh Patil, who identified himself as a national secretary of a right-wing group called Hindu Vahini, had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Rural Development Giriraj Singh in March 2022 alleging that KS Eshwarappa and his associates were harassing him for commissions for contracts implemented by him in Hindalga village.

Santhosh Patil in letters written to the Union government had stated that he and six other contractors had implemented road projects in Hindalga gram panchayat under Belagavi district in 2021 but had not been paid for the work.

He claimed that the contractors invested Rs 4 crore for the project work but had suffered losses owing to delays in payments. He alleged that officials in the government were seeking a 40 per cent commission on the total bill. Santhosh Patil also claimed to have conveyed his grievance to many top leaders of the BJP.

“I am in great tension and have huge pressure from creditors who have given me finance on interest, if the payment and work order is not given immediately then I do not have any options for myself,” Santhosh Patil had stated in a March 11 letter to Union RDPR Minister Giriraj Singh.

“Our state minister RDPR department KS Eshwarappa told me to complete road work on 12-02-2021. We believed his thought and we completed more than 108 works with a cost estimate of Rs 4 crore. More than one year has passed but till today we have not received any work order nor single rupee from him or from the concerned authorities,” Santhosh Patil said in the March 11, 2022, letter.

In a letter dated March 28, 2022, written to the rural development ministry at the Centre, Karnataka additional chief secretary for the RDPR department, LK Atheeq, stated that the rural development and panchayat raj department “has not received any request for sanction of works, nor has the Government sanctioned any works referred to by the complainant.”

“Neither sanction order, nor administrative approval has been given for any such works. The road works which were said to be undertaken by the applicant Sri Santosh K. Patil in Hidalgo Village (presumably Hindalga village of Belgaum District) have not been implemented through the department. No government agency has given any technical sanction nor has any supervision been made. Hence, the question of releasing any funds to the said works does not arise,” the RDPR official’s letter stated.