Businessman names BJP MLA in death note, giving political turn to suicide in poll-bound Karnataka

Pradeep had shot himself on his head inside his car after penning a death note. The police have since booked MLA Aravind Limbavali.

ByBellie Thomas

Published Jan 02, 2023 | 5:41 PMUpdatedJan 02, 2023 | 5:54 PM

The businessman, identified as Bengaluru-resident Pradeep S, shot himself in the head in his car near a resort in Nettigere.

The death by suicide of a 47-year-old businessman on the evening of Sunday, 1 January, has taken a political turn in Karnataka, which is due for Assembly elections in mere months.

The businessman, identified as Bengaluru-resident Pradeep S, shot himself in the head in his car near a resort in Nettigere.

He named BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali and five others in his suicide note as those responsible for him taking the extreme step.

The incident has now turned political, with the Congress lambasting the BJP, which is in power in Karnataka, for not taking any action against Limbavali though his name was mentioned in the note.

Meanwhile, the Kaggalipura police have registered a case of unnatural death and have booked six people, including Limbavali, for abetment of suicide.

Congress leads charge

The Karnataka unit of the Congress on Monday said in a tweet that the BJP was a party that abandoned three values and stuck to three vices.

They (the BJP) abandoned honour, respect, and morality, and stuck to fraud, cheating, and betrayal, according to a rough translation of the tweet.

The Congress also said the BJP had shown that it was an unethical party by not taking action against Limbavali, who it claimed cheated a businessman and abetted his suicide.

Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Council, BK Hariprasad, told South First: “It’s unfortunate that the young businessman ended his life. The law should take its own course.”

He added: “However, the corrupt BJP government has two sets of laws: One set for itself and the other set for others. We hope that the investigation is done in a fair and impartial manner.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bomma blamed some civil dispute for the incident.

He said the police had taken up the matter and an FIR had been filed.

Bommai added that Limbavalli had apparently made it clear that he had nothing to do with the matter.

The incident

The 47-year-old businessman, Pradeep S, was a resident of Ambalipura off Haralur Road in the HSR Layout of Bengaluru.

He was found with a gunshot wound to his head in his car near a resort in Nettigere, off Kanakapura Road near Kaggalipura on Sunday evening.

According to the police, Pradeep and his relatives had checked into a resort on Saturday to celebrate the New Year.

On Sunday morning, Pradeep told his relatives that he had some work in Sira in the Tumakuru district, and left the resort.

However, he drove to his house in HSR Layout, where he wrote lengthy notes on the step he was about to take.

He wrote three death notes. One was for his family, which he kept inside his wife’s wardrobe. The others he carried in his car when returning to the resort.

There, he kept one of the notes on his relative’s car’s windshield — under the wiper.

He then waited for his relatives to check out. He left after all of them, and shot himself in the head inside the moving car, the police said.

What was in the notes?

In one of his death notes, Pradeep S stated, “I am taking this extreme step due to the following people”, and then went on to write down names and phone numbers.

He named Gopi K, Somaiah, Aravind Limbavali, G Ramesh Reddy, Dr Jayaram Reddy, and Raghava Bhat.

“After my death, please take action against the above people and give me justice,” Pradeep wrote.

He explained that he had invested ₹1.5 crore in 2018 to start a pub named Opus Club, partnering with Gopi K and Somaiah K, who had promised him a profit of ₹3 lakh per month along with a job for him with a salary of ₹1.5 lakh, as he would be a working partner.

“I trusted their words and gave ₹1.1 crore (approximately) in the bank and ₹40 lakh in cash to Somaiah and K Gopi,” wrote Pradeep. He took loans to supply the money, he said.

However, his “partners” did not pay up as promised. There was no profit of ₹3 lakh per month, nor a salary of ₹1.5 lakh for him.

Betrayal by ‘partners’

As he had taken huge loans and the interest was accruing, he decided to sell his house and a site and pay at least the interest amounts.

Pradeep alleged in his notes that he had taken a ₹10 lakh loan from one Ramesh Reddy, and returned him ₹35.56 lakh including interest. However, Reddy kept harassing him for more money over a personal issue.

Pradeep also alleged that Dr Jayaram Reddy filed a civil case against Pradeep’s brother over a property dispute, and Raghava Bhat had taken ₹20 lakh from him, which he never returned.

He also said even his wife Namitha had taken loans for him and was continuing to pay EMIs.

Pradeep said his partners had betrayed him. He said he was promised returns of ₹2.5 crore for his ₹1.5-crore investment, and when he contacted MLA Aravind Limbavalli, with whom he had worked as a social media content creator, to help him recover the money from his partners, the MLA called for a meeting and told Pradeep’s partners to return his money.

However, they (the partners) apparently told Pradeep that they could give back only ₹90 lakh and not ₹1.5 crore.

The partners again did not honour their words, and ended up paying Pradeep only ₹9 lakh in total.

It was then he contemplated ending his life and decided to take the extreme step on Sunday, police sources said.

Police sources also said that due to his huge loans, Pradeep had issues in his own family, and would quarrel with his wife.