Shimla/New Delhi: Former CBI director and Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar was found hanging at his residence in Shimla on Wednesday, officials said.
Former CBI chief and Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar, 69, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Shimla on Wednesday, officials said.
It is learnt that the former state Director General of Police was under depression for sometime now. Shimla Superintendent of Police Mohit Chawla confirmed the incident.
Kumar became CBI director in 2008, succeeding Vijay Shanker, in the midst of the agency's probe into the Aarushi Talwar murder case that hogged the headlines.
The Indian Express reports that Kumar had trashed the findings from an investigation headed by then CBI Joint Director Arun Kumar on the Aarushi case and the case was subsequently transferred to the Dehradun unit. Arun Kumar had given a clean chit to the victim's parents Rajesh and aNupur Talwar.
Fourteen-year-old Aarushi was found dead inside her room in the Talwars' Noida residence with her throat slit in May 2008. The needle of suspicion had initially moved towards 45-year-old Hemraj, who had gone missing, but his body was recovered from the terrace of the house two days later.
Dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were given a life sentence by a CBI court in 2013 but were acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in 2017.
After his retirement from the CBI, Kumar had settled down in Shimla and worked briefly for a private university located near here as its chancellor.
The university is currently facing charges of issuing fake degrees.
A senior police officer told IANS that a suicide note was found from the crime spot.
He along with his wife was seen strolling in the evening in the city, a neighbour told the police.
A 1973 batch IPS officer, Kumar is survived by his wife and son.
Kumar served as DGP for the state between 2006 and 2008 before being appointed director of the CBI for two years.
He served as Governor of Nagaland from 2013 to 2014. During this period, he was briefly also the Governor of Manipur.
