A low-key 64-year-old Dharmegowda was in the news after members of the opposition Congress pushed him from the president’s seat in the Upper House during an uproar over a vote of no confidence against the president on December 15.
Police said Dharmegowda asked his official gunman and his escort to leave him alone on Monday night.
He left his home in Shakarayapatna, Kadur taluk in Chikkamagaluru district, about 230 km from Bengaluru, in an old personal Santro with his driver and arrived in Gunasagar around 6pm. He sent the driver saying he had to meet someone.
Cell phone signals helped police locate his body on the right track
Dharmegowda’s last call to a friend in Kadur was reportedly about train schedules. When he did not return home late at night, his family alerted the police. According to mobile phone signals, police located his body on the Mankenahalli train tracks. Body parts were scattered all over the track.
Chikkamagaluru Deputy Commissioner Bagadi Gautham said TOI the cause of death could be confirmed after autopsy. BJP CT leader Ravi, citing the death note recovered by police, said that the JD (S) MLC was upset by the recent incident at the council. Police sources claimed that he mentioned in the letter how his family members should share their property and asked his son not to lose his courage.
Dharmegowda was closely associated with the family of JD (S) supreme HD Deve Gowda. “Dharmegowda’s death is a painful time for me (as) I have been associated with her family since 1972. The drama (at the council) continued between the two national parties. He was very badly injured. In the end, this decent man succumbed. Sorry, ” Deve Gowda said.
The vice president of the council was cremated with state honors at his farm in Sarapanahalli, Kadur, on Tuesday. His son Sonal lit the pyre.
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