Former CBI director Ashwani Kumar found hanging in his Shimla home, ‘suicide note found’

Ashwani Kumar, a 1973-batch IPS officer, was also a former Governor of Manipur & Nagaland. He's said to have taken a walk just before he was found hanging at home.

File image of former CBI director Ashwani Kumar with PM Modi in 2014, during the former's term as Nagaland Governor (March 2013-June 2014) | Twitter | @PIB_India

New Delhi: Former CBI director Ashwani Kumar, who also served as Nagaland Governor from March 2013 to June 2014, was found dead at his residence in Shimla Wednesday evening in an apparent suicide. He was 70. 

Shimla Superintendent of Police Mohit Chawla confirmed that he had been found hanging, but refused to disclose any further details. The matter, he said, is under investigation.

According to sources in Himachal Pradesh Police, which Kumar headed as director general of police (DGP) between 2006 and 2008, he was found hanging in his room. A suicide note has also been recovered from the spot, sources said.

Kumar was an IPS officer of the 1973 batch. Police sources said he went for a walk Wednesday evening, and appeared fine. Upon his return, he went to his room, where he was then found hanging, they added.

He is survived by his wife Chanda, son and daughter-in-law. 

A team of police personnel, including the Director General of Police (DGP), Sanjay Kundu, is currently at the spot, as are doctors from Indira Gandhi Medical College.

A police officer said his family was shocked because Kumar hadn’t shown any signs of depression. “The family is in shock. He was fine till this evening. It is unclear what made him take that step. The investigation is on,” the officer added, without divulging more on the case or commenting on the contents of the suicide note.

Dealt with important cases in CBI

Kumar served as CBI director between 2008 and 2010, leading investigations into cases like the the Aarushi Talwar murder case, where he overturned the initial CBI findings and constituted a fresh team that then accused the parents of the crime. 

The parents have since been acquitted.

He also initiated a probe into the alleged Commonwealth Games scam, and it was under his tenure that a charge sheet in the alleged Sohrabuddin fake encounter case was filed against now Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah has since been discharged in the case.

He also served as governor of Manipur. Kumar resigned from the post of Nagaland governor in 2014, the third gubernatorial incumbent who is believed to have resigned under prodding from the then newly-sworn-in Modi government as it sought to remove UPA appointees.

When he returned to his home state after his resignation as Nagaland governor, he served as chancellor at APG Goyal Shimla University but quit in 2018.