Pul’s caretaker ‘hangs’ self in same bungalow
Sixty days after former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul reportedly hanged himself in his residence, his caretaker was found dead in the former CM’s residence in Itanagar on October 7.
Sushil Barman was found dead in exactly the same manner as Pul — hanging from the ceiling fan with a similar rope used. Barman was the caretaker of the bungalow after Mr Pul died.
Former Arunachal Pradesh governor J.P. Rajkhowa had made the sensational claim that Pul had left behind 60 pages of documents with explosive contents.
Exactly 60 days after 47-yearold former Arunachal chief minister Kalikho Pul reportedly hanged himself in the bedroom of his chief ministerial residence on August 9, his caretaker was found dead with his body hanging in the former CM’s residence in state capital Itanagar on October 7.
What was uncanny was the similar manner of death. The caretaker, Sushil Barman, 35, was found dead in exactly the same manner as Pul — from the ceiling fan and by using the rope to hang the window curtains. He had reached out to the ceiling fan by placing a chair on the dining table.
Originally from Cooch Bihar, Barman, the father of a sixmonth-old baby, had been working in the bungalow for more than five years and was the caretaker when Pul died.
Techi Henyir, the sub-divisional police officer at Itanagar, told this newspaper: “Barman died due to unnatural causes. His post-mortem reports are still awaited although prima facie it appears to be a suicide. We are also waiting to question his wife who is performing the last rites at his native place”.
Pul’s death has become more controversial with former Arunachal Pradesh governor J.P. Rajkhowa on Monday making a sensational claim that Pul had left behind 60 pages of secret documents which had politically “explosive” content on corruption the revelation of which can cause “tremors in Indian politics”. He also said that many people had seen those notes. Calling Pul’s death mysterious, Mr Rajkhowa had sought a CBI inquiry to his death.
On September 28, Mr Rajkhowa told this newspaper in an exclusive interview that he has sought CBI investigations into the involvement of many top leaders in the state government in several scams running into hundreds of crores. “Nobody bothers about verifying the property reports of public servants and consequently all cases of ‘disproportionate assets’ owned by the corrupt ones remain unfounded. Ministers are building up five-star hotels or are trying to buy such hotels outside the state, apart from acquiring costly properties across the country,” he had said.