Under scanner in Saradha scam, ex-Assam DGP Shankar Barua commits suicide

Guwahati: In a shocking piece of news, former Assam director general of police (DGP) Shankar Barua, whose residence was searched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month in connection with the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam, shot himself dead here on Wednesday.

Police said the former director general of police shot himself with a revolver at his residence in Barowari locality.

Guwahati Senior Superintendent of Police AP Tiwari told a news agency that Barua was rushed to a local nursing home at around 12 noon and was declared dead there.

''Barua is no more. We are investigating. We cannot say anything now. Only after the investigation we can talk about details,'' Tiwari said.

Barua's body has been sent for post-marten.

He was admitted to another hospital last week after he complained of heart problems and was released from there this morning.

''He came home and within half an hour he went to the terrace and shot himself with a pistol. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by family members,'' a close family member said.

Barua's name got linked with the scam after an employee of Saradha's media house here alleged last year that he had provided 'protection' to them in Assam which was arranged by popular Assamese singer and filmmaker Sadananda Gogoi on behalf of the group.

Gogoi was taken to Kolkata by CBI for further questioning and was subsequently arrested on September 12.

The CBI had on August 28 raided 22 locations in West Bengal and Assam, including the residence of Barua. CBI officials had taken the former DGP to a State Bank of India branch near his house and examined his bank accounts.

The searches by the CBI took place at 14 in Assam (12 in Guwahati and two in Dhubri), seven locations in Kolkata and one in Mumbai, including the residences of Assam's former education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Barua.

The other residences raided in Assam included that of Congress legislator and former minister Anjan Dutta and singer Sadananda Gogoi.

A host of high profile names, including Bengal minister Shyamapada Mukherjee, actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen, Trinamool parliamentarian Ahmed Hassan Imran and former IPS officer Rajat Majumdar have been grilled by the CBI or the Enforcement Directorate.

The CBI has till now registered 48 cases, including four in West Bengal and 44 in Odisha, in the alleged chit fund scam on the directions of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had handed over the 10,000 crore Saradha chit fund scam case to the CBI in May 2014 and asked the state governments to provide all logistical help to the agency.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said that it was his government which had handed over 15 chit fund cases to the CBI, including that of Saradha, in 2013, much before the Supreme Court entrusted the investigating agency the task to probe the scam.

(With Agency inputs)