Suicide of Parameshwara's PA should not be politicised: Basavaraj Bommai
Bengaluru, Oct 13: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said the alleged suicide of senior Congress leader G Parameshwara's personal assistant should not be "politicised" and investigation is on into the case.
He also said a case of "unnatural death" has been registered based on phone calls and post mortem of Ramesh, the assistant, who was found hanging from a tree here on Saturday, days after Income-Tax sleuths conducted raids against Parameshwara.
"... the DCP there will take necessary action... It should not be politicised, because everything has come in media. Parmeshwara also has said everything.. there is no politics in it.," Bommai told reporters in Hubballi.
The Congress in Karnataka has described Ramesh's suicide as an outcome of "targeted harassment" of their rank and cadre to keep them away from the party.
The I-T sleuths, who raided the residence, office and Siddharth Group of institutions belonging to Parameshwara three days ago, had questioned Ramesh too, party sources have claimed.
An alleged suicide note found from the spot where Ramesh's body was found hanging, read, "I am rattled with the I-T raids in my house and have decided to commit suicide to protect honour.
Anguished with the culture that the poor should remain poor forever, I arrived at this decision."
Police had said the note appealed to I-T officials not to trouble his wife and children.
Speaking to reporters in Chikkamagaluru, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, the suicide must be investigated and those who harassed him, as claimed in the death note should be brought to justice.
"It is left to the government to decide who should investigate this death, but it should be probed as per law and guilty should be punished," he said.
Meanwhile, Ramesh's last rites were performed at his native in Ramanagara on Sunday.
Parameshwara, who attended the last rites, said, Ramesh along with another PA was at his residence till Saturday morning until the I-T officials left, and that he had asked them to be "strong" before sending them home.
Noting that he was deeply "pained and saddened", the former Minister said, " he (Ramesh) was a good boy, young age.. he had nothing do with things, it is unfortunate. He was doing his duty honestly, other than that nothing else."
"After officials (I-T) came to our house, I was busy with the inquiry.
By afternoon or so they said, they will take Ramesh out, and they came back later.. Ramesh had told me that they had gone to his house, other than that he did not say anything and we too were busy with our own things," he added.
Responding to a query from the media, Parameshwara sought to know if anyone could believe that a Personal Assistant was involved in our affairs.
"I don't know, what they (officials) asked him (Ramesh), what reply they expected.. I don't know the details.. I-T officials have said they have not gone to his home, then how will I know what they asked him?" he asked.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
