Pulppalli: Jose Nelledam, 57, senior Congress leader and ward member of Mullankolly village panchayat, was found dead in a pond near his home on Friday.

According to police, he had consumed poison and also slit the veins of his left wrist. They suspect he might have jumped into the pond after harming himself.

Friends said Jose Nelledam had been under stress since the controversial arrest of Kanattumalayil Thankachan alias Augustin, a Congress leader from Marakkadavu near Mullankolly, on August 22 in a false case.

Thankachan had been arrested for allegedly possessing five litres of illicit liquor sourced from Karnataka and 15 country-made bombs, reportedly found in his car porch. He was later released after police submitted a report in court establishing his innocence.

After his release, Thankachan named Jose Nelledam among a few others, accusing them of conspiring to trap him in the case. Jose took his life while the police investigation into the alleged conspiracy of some leaders was still in progress.

Jose had been disturbed over the past few days due to the political controversy. When he did not return home, his relatives searched for him in the nearby farmland and found him in a pond. He was rushed to a private hospital in Pulppalli and later shifted to the Government Taluk Hospital in Sulthan Bathery, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Jose Nelledam, a popular leader in the region, had served as a ward member of the Mullankolly village panchayat for 15 years. Although the Congress party denied him a seat in the last local body election, he contested as a rebel candidate and won with a thumping majority.

After the postmortem, his body was brought to the Mullankolly panchayat hall on Friday evening for the public to pay their last respects. The funeral will be held at the Infant Jesus Church, Pattanikooppu, on Saturday evening.

He is survived by his wife Sheeja Kochupurayil, daughter Aneesha (Dubai), and son Adarsh (Bangalore).