Former CBI Director Ashwani Kumar aged 69 dies by suicide at his residence in Shimla

Ashwani Kumar, a former Director of the CBI and former Governor of Manipur and Nagaland, was found dead at his residence in Shimla late on Wednesday night. He was 69 years old.

According to Shimla Superintendent of Police Mohit Chawla, who was quoted by news agency ANI, Mr Kumar died by suicide. Sources said he had been depressed for several weeks.

The police have reportedly recovered a suicide note, written in English, which said he (Mr Kumar) had become overwhelmed by this life and had set out on his next journey. The note is being verified with the family, the police have said.

A team of police officers, and one from Shimla's Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, have rushed to Mr Kumar's home.

Over the course of a career spanning 37 years, Mr Kumar, a retired IPS officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre, served as DGP for the state



between 2006 and 2008 before being appointed Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a two-year period. He was the first police officer from the state to head the investigative agency.

He was in charge of the central agency while it investigated the infamous Aarushi Talwar murder case.

Mr Kumar, who replaced Vijay Shanker as Director after the agency had begun its probe, set up a second team that contradicted the findings of the first, which ruled out the parents' involvement. The second team said they killed Aarushi after finding her with Hemraj.

The parents were given a life sentence by a CBI court in 2013 but acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in 2017.

Mr Kumar also served as Governor of Nagaland between 2013 and 2014; in that period he was briefly also Governor of Manipur. He is survived by his wife and son.