Noted film artiste Ranganath, who acted in nearly 300 films and played lead roles in some, ended his life in his house at Gandhinagar near Musheerabad here on Saturday.
Sixty-six-year-old Ranganath was living in a rented house.
He was last seen in the afternoon at home by his maid Meenakshi, who used to prepare food for him. Around 4.30 p.m., some persons knocked on the door of his house. They came to invite him for a felicitation function.
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As the door was bolted from inside, they rang up his daughter, who lives nearby with her family.
They broke open the doors and found the body of Ranganath hanging from the ceiling hook in a room used for pooja and as kitchen.
“A nylon rope was found tied around his neck. There was no suicide note, but he wrote the word DESTINY apparently with a sketch pen,” the Musheerabad Inspector B. Mohan Kumar told The Hindu. On an almirah, a sentence written in Telugu, apparently by the actor, was seen.
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It stated that some bonds related to money should be given to the maid Meenakshi. The body was sent to Gandhi Hospital morgue for autopsy. The exact reason behind the actor’s suicide are yet to be ascertained but the investigators were told by his family members that he slipped into depression after his wife’s death six years ago.
“Ranganath sometimes remarked to his daughter that was it necessary for him to continue life having lost his wife,” the Inspector said. A case of death under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code has been registered.
Police found no suicide note, but
a word ‘Destiny’ written by
the actor