Sadiq Batcha, a close associate of jailed former Union communications minister A. Raja, who was being questioned by the CBI in its investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation scam, was found dead at his residence here on Wednesday.
Relatives of Batcha, 37, managing director of Greenhouse Promoters, a firm under the scanner of both the CBI and the enforcement directorate and in which Mr Raja’s family members allegedly have a stake, told the police that he had committed suicide. They said his body was found hanging from the ceiling at his home in the Teynampet area.
On Wednesday evening the police released a suicide note, purportedly written by Batcha, that read: “Everybody should forgive me. I am frustrated. (People) are saying that I am a bad person. I am not a bad person as projected by the media.”
Chennai police commissioner T. Rajendran told reporters: “He was brought dead to Apollo Hospital at around 1.30 pm. The family says he hanged himself. The police is yet to verify anything. We received a complaint at around 5 pm and have started an investigation.” The police has registered a case of unnatural death under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Tamil Nadu home department on Wednesday swiftly transferred the case to the CBI for investigation.
Police officers who rushed to Batcha’s house to collect evidence and question family members said the suicide note was found in a bedroom, written in Tamil on an A4 sheet. In the note, dated March 15, Batcha also “apologised” to his sister, whose daughter he had married, and said he was embarrassed by media reports of the ongoing investigation.
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Batcha’s wife Reha Bhanu told the police that she had left home in the afternoon to pick up her children from school. “When I returned, I found his bedroom locked from the inside,” a police officer quoted her as saying. “He failed to respond when I knocked the door, so I asked the drivers to break open the door. We found him hanging from the ceiling.”
She told the police that her husband was depressed after the media started highlighting the 2G spectrum scam.
The body was taken to the Government Hospital at Royapettah for the post-mortem. It is learnt that the post-mortem report is likely to be available only by Thursday.
Batcha, a native of Perambalur in Tamil Nadu like Mr Raja, was subjected to questioning by the CBI and the enforcement directorate, and his house and offices were searched late last year. The investigating agencies were examining his firm’s links with Mr Raja and others.