Former president of Atlas Cycles Salil Kapoor allegedly committed suicide at his Lutyen’s Delhi home on APJ Abdul Kalam Marg on Tuesday afternoon.

The 70-year-old man allegedly shot himself with his licensed pistol and was found dead on the ground floor of his three-storey house at around 1 pm.

According to a senior police officer, his manager found his body lying in a pool of blood near the puja room of his home. A suicide note was recovered in which Kapoor mentioned the name of about four to five people accusing them of harassing him.

The suicide note also mentions him facing some financial difficulties. He wrote that he had ‘financial burden’ on him. He was reportedly living separately from his family including his wife and three children, who are currently based in Dubai.

Another police officer said that Kapoor’s manager and his family stayed with him in the three-storey building.

He was rushed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The local police were informed, and they, along with forensic experts, visited the crime scene to collect the exhibits from the spot.  Police said they are verifying and probing the matter from “all possible angles” and will take legal action further as needed.

In 2015, he was arrested from Uttarakhand by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police in two cases of cheating involving Rs 9 crore. The first case involved a man, Satinder Nath Maira, who alleged that he had given Rs 13 crore to Salil Kapoor’s family friend Prashant Kapoor for investment.

Salil had issued seven post-dated cheques when asked to return the money, but all were dishonoured.

During the police investigation, Salil was declared an absconder by the Saket court.

The second case against the former Atlas Cycles president was initiated after a woman, Sunita Bansal, filed a complaint and alleged that Salil had cheated her of Rs 4 crore.

In 2020, Kapoor’s sister-in-law Natasha Kapoor also died allegedly by suicide. She had returned from a wedding in Kolkata and left behind a purported suicide note saying she just could not live anymore. Her husband Sanjay Kapoor was a joint president of Atlas Cycles.