CCB police inspector found hanging from tree near Bidadi, family suspects foul play

BENGALURU: Close on the heels of suspicious death of Yadgir Police Sub-Inspector Parashuram, a CCB police inspector committed suicide on Sunday night by hanging himself from a tree. The body was discovered hanging from a tree 15 km away from his rented house in Bidadi, Ramanagara district, by locals on Monday morning.

The deceased police inspector has been identified as Thimmegowda. He was serving as a police inspector in the CCB Economic Offences Wing. He had been transferred to CCB only a month ago.

It is said that he was under stress for the past two days, but did not reveal the reason to anyone. A financial crunch would be a reason for his suicide as per preliminary investigation.

Ramanagara SP Karthik Reddy, CCB Deputy Commissioner of Police Srinivasagowda, and Central Zone IGP Labhu Ram visited the spot. Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) teams also arrived at the place. The Kaggalipura police are investigating the case.

Timmegowda, a native of Channapatna, is survived by his wife and family members who live in Mysuru. A rape case was filed against him earlier by a womanpolice constable, when he was working in Hassan, which is currently under trial in court.

Timmegowda’s father-in-law, Govindu, claimed that this is not a suicide, but a murder. He alleged that someone assaulted him up and brought him near Bidadi and hanged him. “There are injuries, scars on the body. Thimmegowda was under pressure at work and had told his wife Sunita the previous day that he was being pressured by senior officers. A case was given to him but he told me that he was not able to handle it. He was being forced to do something that he did not want to do. He also asked her wife to take care of their children”, the father-in-law claimed.

Sunita, Timmegowda’s wife, also suspected foulplay in the death. She filed a complaint stating that her husband was not a mentally weak person to commit suicide. She claimed that he was being pressurized at work and had told her about it. She has demanded an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.

She further said, “It had been 15 days since he joined the CCB. He said that they arrested someone last week and that he is busy in that case. I called him at 5 am yesterday. Then again I called at 3.30 pm, but he did not reply. I thought there was work pressure. He is such a brave person, not weak minded”.

The family is demanding a thorough investigation into the circumstances around the death of Thimmegowda’s and has refused to accept that it was a suicide.