A civil contractor and BJP supporter who tried to alert Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an alleged demand for a bribe from a Karnataka minister has committed suicide in Udupi, leaving behind a note that blames the state minister.

Santosh Patil, 40, had accused Karnataka rural development and panchayati raj minister and BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa of demanding a 40 per cent commission to clear a Rs 4-crore bill for road work the contractor had undertaken in a village in his home district of Belgaum in 2021.

Eshwarappa, who had filed a defamation case against Patil last month, maintains that he is innocent and terms the allegations baseless.

The Karnataka State Contractors Association had also accused the BJP government of demanding 40 per cent commission for public works.

Police said Patil was found dead at a hotel in Udupi town on Tuesday after a purported suicide note was sent via WhatsApp to some friends in which he held Eshwarappa responsible for his death.

“Rural development and panchayati raj minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who is responsible for my death, should get appropriate punishment,” the message in Kannada read. The note urged Prime Minister Modi, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa to help his wife and child.

Patil had checked into the hotel with two friends on Monday. His friends, who were in another room, alerted the hotel staff when Patil failed to respond to knocks. He was found dead when the staff opened the room with a spare key.

Police have registered a case of unnatural death and suspect that he consumed some poisonous substance. The results of forensic examinations are awaited.

Patil had earlier written to Modi about the allegation against Eshwarappa and had travelled to Delhi where he met Union rural development minister Giriraj Singh, BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka Arun Singh and party organising secretary and RSS leader B.L. Santosh.

Giriraj’s ministry had sought a clarification from Eshwarappa’s ministry but it is not known if the party had taken up the issue with the Karnataka leadership.

A former member of the RSS-backed ABVP, Patil later became a member of the BJP and an office-bearer of the Sangh parivar outfit Hindu Vahini.

Eshwarappa said he had no idea who Patil was and iterated that the contractor had not been engaged by his department.

Eshwarappa told reporters on Tuesday: “I got to know from the media that he has named me in the suicide note. I don’t know anything else. I don’t even know who he is. I don’t know what kind of work he has done.”

The minister said he had no clue about Patil’s allegation about the demand of cuts or that the contractor had taken up 108 projects, and said Patil should have approached the court where the defamation case had been filed against him.

Patil had said he had undertaken the projects without any work order but on the basis of Eshwarappa’s verbal assurances. Patil had added that he had taken huge loans to complete the work and was under intense pressure from his creditors.

Chief minister Bommai told reporters that the police had been directed to conduct a “thorough investigation”.

“There will not be any interference from our side and the police will have complete freedom in the investigation. The truth should come out. The note will also come under the purview of the investigation and its authenticity will be checked,” he said.

Bommai was noncommittal on whether Eshwarappa would be asked to step down. “I will talk to him,” the chief minister said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “BJP’s 40% Commission Govt in Karnataka has claimed the life of their own Karyakarta. The victim’s pleas to the PM went unanswered. PM & CM are complicit.”

Karnataka Congress leaders have demanded the arrest and removal of Eshwarappa. “The FIR should name Eshwarappa and the police should immediately arrest him,” state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar said.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, the AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, threatened to launch a sit-in outside the chief minister’s residence if immediate action was not taken against the minister. “We warn this government to register a case against Eshwarappa, arrest him and remove him from the cabinet by today evening. Or else we will have to lay siege to the chief minister’s residence and demand his resignation also,” Surjewala said.