Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia, former minister of Chhattisgarh from the Bharatiya Janata Party, has committed suicide on Sunday. Bhatia was found hanging at his home at Chhuriya town in Rajnandgaon in the evening of 19th September. He was 72 years old.
Rajnandgaon Additional SP Pragya Meshram said that a suicide note was recovered from the scene. According to the note, Bhatia committed suicide due to health reasons.
A suicide note has been found in his pocket. In which, he wrote that he committed suicide due to his health conditions: Rajnandgaon Additional SP Pragya Meshram
— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2021
“Bhatia lived with his younger brother and his family. He was alone in the house on Sunday and when the family members returned, they found him hanging from the ceiling fan in his room,” a senior officer had told the Indian Express. “We are questioning the family members too.”
Rajinder Pal Singh Bhatia had been infected by Covid-19 in March this year and has been unwell since then, BJP leaders say. Bhatia was the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry between 2003-08 in the Raman Singh led government.
He had a fallout with the party in 2013 after being denied a ticket for the assembly polls, following which he contested as an independent from the Khujji constituency. However, later he returned to the BJP.