The police are waiting for the autopsy report of IAS officer B.M. Vijay Shankar who was found dead in his apartment on Tuesday [June 23].
The autopsy was conducted at Victoria Hospital on Wednesday, before the body was handed over to the family. “Only the report will shed light on whether it is a sucide case or not,” said Srinath Joshi, DCP (South-East).
Shankar, who was posted as Additional Mission Director, Sakala, had attended office on Tuesday, returned home around 7 p.m. and locked himself in the bedroom. He was found dead at around 8 p.m. by his wife who was also home, sources said.
The officer was an accused in the multi-crore I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam and was facing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. Senior police officials say that he may have ended his life. “But given the sensitivity of the case and the fact he was under investigation, we do not want to speculate unless it is medically confirmed,” said a senior police official.
‘Baseless rumours’
Amidst the speculation of a death note, a senior police official termed it “baseless rumours”, and said no letter was recovered from the room where he was found dead. In July 2019, Shankar was arrested by the Special Investigation Team, formed to probe the scam, for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹1.5 crore from IMA founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan to give the firm a clean chit, when the Reserve Bank of India raised concerns of it cheating investors. The SIT had also recovered the alleged bribe money from a builder.
(Those in distress or those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani Ph: 104 for help.)