Former CBI director Ashwani Kumar dies by suicide at Shimla house

Former Central Bureaua of Investigation director Ashwani Kumar allegedly died by suicide by hanging at his residence in Shimla on Wednesday, officials said.

The body of Kumar, 69, a 1973-batch IPS officer, was found hanging at his residence in Brockhurst, near Chhota Shimla, in the evening, they added.

Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu, Shimla Superintendent of Police Mohit Chawla and other senior police officials reached the spot.

A forensic team has also reached the spot.

The local police found a note purportedly written by Kumar before his death, the officials said.

A preliminary probe indicates that a sudden change in Kumar's active life over the last six months because of confinement at home could be a probable reason behind the drastic move, but the police are looking into all probabilities, they said.

One of his neighbours said that Kumar had gone for his evening walk as usual. After returning home, he went to the attic, where he hanged himself. The body was first found by a family member, who went to the attic to call Kumar for dinner, the neighbour said.

Kumar is survived by his wife and son.

He is remembered by his former colleagues and even the present officers as a soft-spoken gentleman who always wore a graceful smile.

A resident of Nahan in Himachal Pradesh, Kumar became the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2008, succeeding Vijay Shanker in the midst of the agency's probe into the Aarushi Talwar murder case,
which was hogging media headlines.

He had also served in the Special Protection Group elite force, which primarily guards the prime minister, and was appointed as the governor of Nagaland in 2013 by the UPA government, the officials said.

A former DGP of Himachal Pradesh, Kumar was presently the vice chancellor of a private university in Shimla, they added.