Family suicide in Kerala: Police wait for IRS officer’s relatives from Jharkhand

Kochi, Feb 21 (IANS) The Kerala Police, which has commenced the probe into the suicide of a top IRS officer, his sister and mother, were awaiting the arrival of close relatives from Jharkhand.

The three were found dead at his official quarters on Thursday night.

The dead have been identified as Manish Agarwal, an IRS official from Jharkhand, his sister Shalini and their aged mother Shakunthala.

Both Manish and Shalini were single and the only trace that the police were able to recover was a suicide note written in Hindi, which said their sister, who is abroad, should be intimated.

Kerala Police officials have by now established contacts with the Jharkhand Police and they are expecting the arrival of a team of police officials from there.

Agarwal belonged to the 2011 IRS batch and was a top officer at the GST Commissioner’s office here.

His sister Shalini had been staying with her brother and mother for the past few months.

While the bodies of the brother and sister were found hanging, the body of the mother was spotted lying on her bed.

The Kerala Police probe team when they broke open the door of the house saw the body of the mother draped in a white cloth and flowers were also kept on the sides.

The probe team suspected that the mother died first and may have been killed.

The police are also waiting for the post-mortem to be conducted and when the report comes, they feel they will be able to come to more conclusions.

Meanwhile, suspicions are rising about Shalini’s government job back in her home state.

Since the Customs quarters are out of bonds for the local community, the compound is frequented by only residents.

Neighbours pointed out that it was only the mother of Manish who was seen outside at times.

Manish according to his colleagues had gone on six days of leave but even after his leave was over he failed to turn up in the office. So his colleagues on Thursday evening arrived at his home where they found a foul smell and immediately alerted the police. After the police arrived, the front door was forcefully opened.

The local police have registered a case of unnatural death. The forensic team also examined the spot.

–IANS

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