K'taka: 4 held in whistleblower officer's murder case

A day after Karnataka official S P Mahantesh, said to be a whistle-blower in controversial land allotments by societies, died in hospital, the Karnataka government on Monday said four persons have been taken into custody in connection with the attack on the officer.

"Four persons have been taken into custody in connection with the assault on Mahantesh and are being questioned. Police have stepped up investigation into the case and even deputed teams outside the state," Karnataka Home Minister R Ashoka told mediapersons after a meeting with top police officers in which the case was reviewed.

Ashoka declined to disclose the identity of those taken into custody, saying the probe was in progress.

Amid outrage over the death of the Karnataka Administrative Service officer, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said that those who assaulted and caused his death would be arrested in a couple of days.

"Police have gathered vital clues over the attack on the officer and the accused will be nabbed in a day or two," Gowda told the media in Bangalore.

Gowda, however, said there was no need for entrusting the probe to CID in the light of police making progress in their investigations.

Bangalore City Police Commissioner Jyoti Prakash Mirji said police had secured vital clues and the culprits would be nabbed in a day or two.

48-year-old Mahantesh, who suffered head injuries in the alleged attack by unidentified persons on May 15, died in a private hospital in Bangalore.

Mahantesh was working as deputy director of the audit wing in the state's cooperative department and had reported irregularities in different societies involving some officials and political figures.

This is the second death of an official of the Karnataka government after that of assistant forest conservator Madan Naik, who was assaulted by a group of tourists at Dandeli in Uttara Kannada district on May 6.

Naik was attacked when he had objected to the tourists feeding crocodiles in a private resort.