Man falls to death from high-rise, cops suspect suicide

LUCKNOW: A 43-year-old man who was employed as the private driver of a secretariat officer, died after falling from Ratan Square building under mysterious circumstances in Qaiserbagh area here on Saturday afternoon.

It was not clear if he jumped or fell off accidentally from the seven-floor commercial building.

The police even failed to ascertain the floor from where he fell off or jumped deliberately.

However, the cops suspect it to be a suicide case.

The victim was identified as Shailendra Kumar Tripathi, a resident of Kalyanpur, Gudamba.

He was employed as private driver of a personal assistant rank officer of the secretariat and also worked as agent of a private insurance company. His wife Archana Tripathi is principal of a private school in Barabanki. The couple has a 15-yearold son, who is a Class 10 student.

Devesh Mishra, the security in-charge of Ratan Square, told the police the building staff were alerted after hearing a thud sound at around 1pm and found the man lying on the floor inside the premises.

He said the man was profusely bleeding, so he called up the police control room and rushed him to civil hospital in his private car, but the doctors declared him brought dead.

The victim’s wife confirmed his identity when she reached the hospital after being informed on her mobile phone. The police found her mobile number written on a slip placed in the victim’s shirt pocket. The victim, however, had left his mobile phone at home.

The police said Tripathi frequently visited the insurance company located on the third floor of the building and did the same even on Saturday.

He, however, did not visit the office and later fell from the building under mysterious circumstances.

The CCTV footage shows him falling from the building but the floor from where he fell or jumped could not be ascertained.

Cops were checking the footage of CCTV installed on other floors to clear the sequence of incident. However, so far, no police complaint has been lodged in the incident.