Tamil Nadu: Industrialist P S Belliraj commits suicide

A leading industrialist on Wednesday allegedly shot himself dead in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris district due to financial problems, police said.

P S Belliraj, who ran an educational institution, tea factory and a marriage hall in Nilgiris and a spinning mill in Coimbatore, shot himself at his house using his own gun, in Aravenu near Kothagiri in the Nilgiris district, they said.

The wife of Belliraj, in his late seventies, heard the sound of a gun shot from his bedroom and found him lying dead in a pool of blood, police said.

Police personnel, who rushed to the spot, recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem to the Government Hospital in Coimbatore.

Superintendent of Police Murali Rambha and other senior officials held preliminary enquiry with the family members.

Police quoting initial investigations said Belliraj was stated to have borrowed money from different persons.

Some persons allegedly using the name of a former DMK Minister had been issuing threats to him in the last couple of days, they said.

Belliraj is survived by a wife, three daughters and a son.