Senior KAS officer S.P. Mahantesh (48), deputy director of Cooperative Societies’ Audit Department, Bengaluru Rural division, who was battling for life for five days after he was brutally assaulted by a group of unidentified assailants, died on Sunday morning. He suffered a cardiac arrest around 5.30 am. He was declared dead an hour later. Mr Mahantesh’s head injury was the main reason for his death, the doctors said.
Four months ago, Mr Mahantesh escaped another attack on Bannerghatta Road when a group of unidentified men chased him. He had told his wife K.S. Purnima about the incident. The police are probing whether the same gang is behind the latest attack. DCP Central Ravikanthe Gowda said the police are close to cracking the case and some arrests would be made within a week.
Ms Purnima said her husband was under constant threat and received calls late in the night. He could be heard shouting at someone on the other side of the line. Mr Mahantesh had told Ms Purnima that he was investigating a case involving several important people, but did not give her the names.
Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who visited the family’s home, said the probe into the murder has been intensified and the accused would be nabbed soon. But the family members said they had lost faith in the state police and wanted an independent agency, either the Central Bureau of Investigation or Crime Investigation Department, to investigate the murder.
The KAS officer is survived by his father, Puttanaiah (73), a retired senior official with the Karnataka Municipal Corporation, his mother Vijayamma (65), wife Purnima and two daughters Ragini (10) and Deepika (8). Mr Mahantesh was to celebrate his sixteenth wedding anniversary and the elder daughter, ten-year-old Ragini’s birthday on Saturday.
Mr Mahantesh was rushed to Mallige Hospital around 9.30 pm on May 15 in a critical condition. He was lying unattended on the road next to Atria Hotel when some passersby noticed him and shifted him to the hospital. He was returning home after finishing an audit of a cooperative society in Sahakarnagar when the incident occurred.