Former Assam Director General of Police, Shankar Barua, reportedly shot himself in his residence at Barowari locality in Guwahati on Wednesday. He was rushed to a private hospital where he was declared dead. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches in the residence of the former DGP on August 28 in connection with the multicrore Saradha chit-fund scam.
Confirming his death, City Senior Superintendent of Police A.P.Tiwari told The Hindu that former DGP reportedly shot himself with his .32 licensedrevolver around noon.
The SSP said the investigations were on and post mortem findings were still awaited. Mr. Barua reportedly reached home around 11.30 am after he was discharged from the hospital, where he was admitted the previous week.
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Mr. Barua headed the Assam Police as the DGP from July 2009 to January 2012. Senior Assam Police officials and his relatives rushed to his residence after hearing the news of Mr. Barua's death.
On August 28, >the CBI conducted searches in 11 other locations in the city, including the residence of former Assam Health and Education Minister and dissident Congress legislator Himanta Biswa Sarma, the premises of a private television news channel News Live , headed by Mr. Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, Assamese singer Sadananda Gogoi, residence of former minister and Congress legislator Anjan Dutta.
Subsequently on August 12 the CBI arrested singer Gogoi in Kolkata in connection with the Saradha scam.
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