Former governor and ex-CBI director Ashwani Kumar found dead in his Shimla house left a note for his family that attributed his decision to “disease and disability”, Himachal Pradesh police chief Sanjay Kundu said. Kundu, according to news agency ANI, confirmed that the police and the family did not suspect foul play.
Kumar, the 1973-batch Indian Police Service officer, was found dead in the attic of his Shimla house by his son and daughter-in-law soon after they returned from a walk at about 7 pm on Wednesday. The retired police officer, who once headed the Himachal Pradesh police and the Central Bureau of Investigation, left behind a note for his family.
“We found a suicide note in which he wrote that he is ending his life due to disease and disability, of his own free will. He said his soul is embarking on a new journey and everyone needed to be happy, and that there should be no rituals or ceremonies,” Sanjay Kundu told reporters, according to the ANI report.
Kundu confirmed that the family did not suspect foul play.
“He used to meditate in the attic around 7 pm every day, with all doors open. On Wednesday when his son and daughter-in-law were going for a walk, they found all the doors of the attic locked. They broke the door and found Kumar hanging from a rope there,” the Himachal DGP, also an IPS officer, said about the death of Kumar, 16 years his senior in service.
Ashwani Kumar was the Himachal Pradesh police chief from 2006 till 2008 when he returned to the Central Bureau of Investigation to lead the investigation agency.
Kumar led the central investigation agency from August 2008 to November 2010. It was during his tenure as the CBI chief that the investigation agency arrested Union home minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. The 22 accused who faced trial in this case were acquitted in December 2018.
Kumar also oversaw the agency’s investigation into the 2008 Aarushi murder case. He had expressed his displeasure over the probe into the case and had taken upon himself to take it to a logical conclusion.
In 2013, the Manmohan Singh government appointed him as the governor of Nagaland and Manipur governor. Kumar stepped down from the post after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power after the 2014 general elections.