Wife, daughter of top officer held for graft commit suicide

Two days after the CBI arrested B.K. Bansal, former director-general, corporate affairs, in a bribery case, his wife and daughter allegedly committed suicide by hanging themselves at their residence here on Tuesday. According to the police, Bansal’s wife Satyabala (57) and daughter Neha (27) were found hanging in separate rooms of their home in east Delhi.

The police said the two women had left separate but similar suicide notes, saying “nobody was responsible for their death.” Joint commissioner of police (eastern range) Satish Golcha said the police received a call around 1.30 pm following which teams were rushed to the Bansal residence. “Two separate suicide notes have been recovered. Prima facie there seems to be no foul play,” he said.

The CBI was quick to deny any connection with the suicides and their investigation of Bansal. “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the incident. Both the deceased were neither accused nor questioned or summoned in the ongoing investigation,” it said in a statement.

“Bodies have been sent for post-mortem at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital,” Rishi Pal, DCP (East), told reporters. “We have also recovered two suicide notes from one of the rooms. In two separate pages of a diary, the deceased have written suicide notes dated and signed by them. In their notes, they claimed no one is responsible for their extreme step.”

He added that going through the sequence of the event, no foul play is suspected. “We have informed their relatives. Bansal’s son is untraceable for the last four days. We are trying to get in contact with him. We will sent the suicide notes for forensic examination,” Mr Pal said.

Bansal, an additional secretary-rank officer in the ministry of corporate affairs, was arrested by the CBI on July 17 for allegedly accepting a bribe from a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company. The CBI had carried out searches at eight locations in connection with the case during which the agency had claimed to have made cash recoveries.

According to the CBI, Bansal was arrested while receiving Rs 9 lakh of the Rs 20 lakh promised as bribe. A day after Bansal’s arrest, CBI sleuths searched his premises and recovered around Rs 60 lakh in cash, 20 property papers belonging to Bansal, his son and other family members and details of 60 of his bank accounts. The CBI is now preparing to register a disproportionate assets case against Bansal, sources said.

Investigations revealed that Bansal had allegedly accepted a bribe from the Mumbai-based Elder Pharmaceuticals for not ordering an investigation into its act of duping of 24,000 investors to the tune of Rs 176 crore. Anuj Saxena, an actor in popular television serials who is also the chief operating officer of the firm, is under the scanner of the agency. Saxena has also been named as an accused in the CBI FIR. The agency will soon question Saxena on his return from abroad, sources said.