Bangalore, March 27: Hours before Bangalore IAS officer D.K. Ravi was found dead, a WhatsApp text sent from his mobile to a female batch-mate said 'I think this is the last message from me', according to a transcript.

The message also said Ravi had deleted all her pictures from his cellphone, according to the transcript.

The case, initially probed by the CID, was later handed over to the CBI under pressure from Ravi's parents and the Opposition, who have rejected the police's suicide theory and suspect a mafia role in the death of the crusading officer.

Ravi was married, and so is the recipient of the message. The female officer is posted in a district neighbouring Bangalore, and went to the police to have her statement recorded two days after Ravi was found hanging in his government flat on March 16.

Her statement did not mention any romantic relationship with Ravi nor any WhatsApp messages from him, a source clarified.

The message from Ravi's mobile, according to the transcript, did not give any details about the pictures it claimed had been deleted. It is now up to the CBI, expected to begin its probe next week, to decide whether the images were relevant to the investigation and should be retrieved.

According to the transcripts, several messages had been sent from Ravi's cellphone to the female officer on March 15 and 16.

One message sent on March 15 evening says: 'Today will be the most notorious day where will (sic) take some nasty decision.'

The last message, sent at 9.50am on March 16 when Ravi would have been in his office, says: 'I think this is the last message from me, I am sending to you to clarify your mind.'

The message is several paragraphs long. It cites Ravi's upbringing in a poor rural family and how the female officer helped him succeed in his career.

'You really guided me by the way if (sic) my aspirations. I loved you to the core,' the message reads.

'You are right in asking why have I married even after loving you? I wanted to forget you and did not want to go mad. But I realised later I made a mistake in life.'

It adds: 'I loved you means I expect best things to you even after my death. For that reason only I deleted all pictures of you in my mobile, all messages and all others which are related to you.'

Ravi left his office around 11am and returned to his flat, where he was found hanging from a ceiling fan at the end of a sari around 6.30pm.

Within hours of the body being discovered after Ravi's wife Kusuma returned home with her father, the woman officer contacted a senior state IAS officer, the source said. 'The senior officer directed her to talk to the police.'

After speaking to senior officers, including city commissioner M.N. Reddi, the female officer gave her statement to the investigators on March 18.

According to the source, she told the police that she, Ravi and five other IAS officers (whom she didn't name) had been close friends during their IAS training. All of them belong to the 2009 batch of the Karnataka cadre.

But the friendship seems to have suffered after Ravi was transferred from Kolar district to Bangalore as additional commissioner in the commercial taxes department in October last year.

She mentioned Ravi's 'tone' changing in the weeks before his death and termed his behaviour 'inconsistent' in his last few days, but didn't elaborate.

The officer said she had initially been posted in Ravi's home district and thus got to know his family.

'She said Ravi's brother had met her a couple of times to seek her help in sorting out some local issue or the other in their village,' the source said.

Ravi's first posting was as assistant commissioner in Sedam in north Karnataka. He was later posted as deputy commissioner in Kolar district. Here he built a reputation as a fearless crusader, taking on the sand mining mafia and land sharks.

While he was in Kolar, according to the woman officer's statement, Ravi sought a loan of Rs 10 lakh from her to buy land.

During a family meeting at Ravi's place in Kolar in August last year, her husband decided to give the money, she said. But when Ravi asked for more money the following month, she didn't have anything to spare, her statement said.

She didn't mention whether Ravi had repaid the loan.

Ravi was soon transferred to Bangalore. The Opposition has alleged the government shunted him out of Kolar as he had taken on people patronised by the ruling Congress.

But Ravi's father-in-law Hanumantharayappa, a local Congress leader, says it was he who had requested chief minister P.C. Siddaramaiah to transfer Ravi to the state capital.

In his last posting, Ravi had cracked down on real estate tax defaulters who, the Opposition alleges, plotted to get rid of him.

The government stuck to the 'suicide for personal reasons' theory, and several media 'leaks' led to intense speculation about Ravi's relationship with the female batch-mate and its impact on his married life.

Siddaramaiah promised to table the CID's interim probe report in the Assembly but Karnataka High Court, hearing a writ petition, blocked the move.

'The respondents are restrained from making or publishing any interim report or making any public statement pertaining to the investigation being conducted with regard to the unnatural death of late D.K. Ravi, an IAS officer, pending disposal of this writ petition. This, however, will not prevent the respondents from continuing with the investigation,' the high court said.

The order on March 22 did not mention any bar on the media reporting the incident. The respondents were the Karnataka government, the state home department, the director-general and inspector-general of police and the CID.

Eventually, the CBI handover happened on March 23. A government official said the agency teams to conduct the probe are likely to be formed on March 31.