Bengaluru: N Santosh, the political secretary of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, has denied that he attempted to commit suicide.
After his discharge from hospital on Monday, he said he had only ended up overdosing on some tablets by mistake.
“The attempt to suicide theory is nothing but speculation. I was unwell mostly due to indigestion after attending a marriage feast and ended up wrongly consuming some other tablets. My wife panicked and shifted me to hospital,” Santosh, 31, said.
On state Congress president DK Shivakumar’s claims that an explosive secret video could have been the trigger for the suicide attempt and a probe was needed, Santosh said, “The Congress leader appears to have lost his mental balance after the defeats suffered by his party in the recent bypolls. They are also the outcome of recent raids on him by central agencies.”
Shivakumar must look at his colleague-former chief minister Siddaramaiah and learn how to be responsible, Santosh, who is grandnephew of Yediyurappa, said.
Despite Santosh’s claims on the suicide attempt, an FIR has been registered by the police against him, under section 309 of IPC for attempt to suicide.
“The MLC notice mentioned that Santosh had consumed 12 sleeping pills at a time. Prima facie, it looks like Santosh, for some reason, attempted suicide . We are registering a suo motu case against Santosh under IPC section 309 and initiated legal action,” the suo motu FIR read.
The Opposition Congress was not satisfied with the explanation and pressed for a probe into the matter.
Reiterating his demand for an inquiry, Shivakumar said, “There is political pressure on Santhosh and that is evident in the manner in which BJP is trying to cover it up. He is no ordinary personal assistant, but political secretary to the CM. To save face, they (BJP) will try to make him say anything.”
