BENGALURU: Uncontrollable tears and stunned silence prevailed outside Velariamman Street Cross in Vivek Nagar on Wednesday evening, as relatives, colleagues and neighbours came over to pay their condolences to the family of Raviraj, a cashier at State Bank of Mysore, who committed suicide.
Raviraj (57) had allegedly committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan in a room in his house on Wednesday morning.
He is survived by his wife, a BSNL employee, and two sons, elder son employed as an engineer and younger son studying third year engineering course.
In the midst of his grief, his younger brother Gopalraj expressed his anguish over TV news channels which linked Raviraj’s death to conversion of black money to white.
Raj told Express, “On what basis are these people damaging his reputation? I will not let them get away with it.” Raviraj’s elder son (who did not want to be identified), said.
“We are already in grief. Such allegations are intensifying our pain and disturbing all of us,” he said.
With the brothers living as a joint family, Gopalraj got to spend considerable time with his sibling. Failing to understand what triggered the suicide, he said, “Ravi showed no signs of disturbance. He discusses everything with me. There is no chance of my brother being involved in any unethical activity.”
“He always spoke against injustices and wrong doings,”Gopalraj stressed.
He added, “When the upright IAS officer D K Ravi committed suicide, he did not eat properly for three days as he was really upset.”
His elder son intervened to say, “He was bold by nature and would face anything. He was not a coward. We cannot understand what happened to him.”
Neighbours describe him as a calm person. Saravanan, who resides in the next street, said, “He was soft- spoken. Also, he was very calm in his behaviour. He was a gentleman and his appearance too confirmed the same.”