A week after Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Commissioner Anurag Tewari was found dead in Lucknow under mysterious circumstances, the postmortem report has concluded that he did not die of natural causes, an investigating officer told TNM.
With his IAS officer’s family claiming that Anurag was about to expose a scam worth thousands of crores of rupees in the Karnataka government, the Special Investigative Team probing his death has written a letter to the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department.
"The letter asks the Karnataka government if anyone in Tewari's department knew that he was gathering evidence to expose the scam. It also asks questions about Tewari's work history and the issues he handled while being posted in different departments over the years. The Karnataka government is yet to send its reply," the officer added.
While the autopsy report revealed that Anurag had multiple injuries on his body, the officer confirmed that it does not mention if the IAS officer was assaulted before he died.
The post-mortem mentions that he had a 2cm cut on his lower lip, abrasions on his left cheek and injury marks on his right hand and right leg.
“When his body was found, his face, nose, lips and tongue were blue. His mouth was partially open and his eyes were closed,” the investigating officer said.
The Lucknow police are now looking for the eyewitness, who may have seen Anurag between the time of his death, which was at around 2am till the call was made to the police at 5.45 am.
Meanwhile, the police questioned his batch mate and Lucknow Development Authority Vice Chairman PN Singh for three hours on Tuesday.
“PN Singh was questioned on Tuesday. He said that Anurag had confided in him about being pressurized by his superiors after he had uncovered a major scam in the department he was working in,” the investigating officer said.
‘Anurag wanting to change to UP cadre’
Anurag was a 2008 batch IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre. According to the officer, Anurag had decided to meet Singh to request his help in changing his cadre to Uttar Pradesh.
“Singh said that Anurag was extremely unhappy with his job. He told Singh that the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary of his department were pressurizing him. Singh also claims that Anurag did not give him any specifics. Anurag had also confided in Singh about his life being under threat, which is why he wanted to change his cadre. Anurag had told Singh that he never wanted to go back to Karnataka,” the officer added.
Meanwhile, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister, UT Khader lashed out at the BJP on Wednesdayfor alleging that the Karnataka government had a hand in Anurag’s death.
“The BJP is claiming that there was a Rs 2,000 crore scam in the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department. If they have information on the scam, why are they not coming forward with it? If they give us the information, we can provide it to the CBI, who can ensure a fair investigation,” UT Khader told media persons.
He also accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanath of failing to maintain law and order in his state.